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Section 319
NONPOINT SOURCE PROGRAM SOCGESS STORY
Installing Passive Treatment System Restores Trout Population
Waterbodies Improved Abandoned mine draina9e
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which consists of collection channels, limestone
treatment and settling ponds (Figures 2 and 3),
raises pH levels and allows the metals to drop out of
solution. The project also included planting 50,000
trees on Pennsylvania Game Commission watershed
land in 2000, which emphasized including trees and
shrubs that are desirable to local wildlife.
Figure 2. Vertical flow limestone treatment pond.
Figure 3. Settling pond with limestone baffles.
Results
Data collected by BAMR in November 2006 through
July 2008 show an average pH of 4.5 above the
treatment system and an average downstream pH
of 7.5. Data indicate that the passive treatment
system captures 84 percent of aluminum and
86 percent of manganese present.
On the basis of a 2008 BAMR biologist's assess-
ment of aquatic macroinvertebrates in the Sterling
Run watershed, PADEP's Division of Water Quality
Standards has determined that the Index of Biotic
Integrity is sufficiently high to support removing
five segments (12.33 miles) of Sterling Run from
the state's 2010 CWA section 303(d) list of impaired
waters.
Studies by the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat
Commission show that brook trout populations
increased post-project. A May 2009 report notes that
only one brook trout was present in 1985 below the
point where Boake Run flows into Sterling Run. When
sampled again in 2008, 31 brook trout were present.
Also, the overall biomass at that location increased
from 0.2 kilograms per hectare (kg/ha) to 5.9 kg/
ha from 1985 to 2008. The number of brook trout
and biomass present increased significantly after
completing the treatment system. This reestablish-
ment of naturally reproducing brook trout population
indicates that waterbodies are attaining their aquatic
life designated use.
Partners and Funding
Sterling Run's heavily forested watershed drains
mostly state-owned land that is managed by the
Pennsylvania Game Commission. The rest of the
watershed is privately held, except for a small
portion that lies within the Sproul State Forest
and is managed by the Pennsylvania Department
of Conservation and Natural Resources. Primary
partners in the project were BAMR and the
Game Commission. Other partners include the
Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, which has
sampled for fish species in the watershed as far
back as 1985, and E.M. Brown Construction.
The Game Commission dedicated the Boake Run
Mine Acid Abatement Project on September 29,
2005 (Figure 4). Final cost for the entire project was
$856,677, which was provided by the federal Office
of Surface Mining through the Appalachian Clean
Stream Initiative.
Figure 4.
Partners from
PADEPBAMR,
Pennsylvania
Game
Commission
and E.M. Brown
Construction
gathered to
dedicate the
Boake Run
project.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Office of Water
Washington, DC
EPA841-F-09-00100
December 2009
For additional information contact:
Joe Kelly, Pennsylvania Department
of Environmental Protection
717-783-2404 • josephkel@state.pa.us
Pamela J. Milavec, Pennsylvania Department
of Environmental Protection
Bureau of Abandoned Mine Reclamation
814.472.1832 • pmilavec@state.pa.us
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