Section 319
NONPOINT SOURCE PROGRAM SOCGESS STORY
Installing Active and Passive Treatment Systems Restores Water Quality
Watorhnrlioc ImnrnwoH Abandoned Mine Drainage (AMD) caused high metal levels and
VVdLUIUUUlUb impruvUU |owpH in Babb Creek, creating toxic conditions for trout and mac-
roinvertebrates. The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PADEP) added three seg-
ments of Babb Creek to the state's Clean Water Act (CWA) section 303(d) list in 1996 for impairments
due to metals and in 2002 for impairments due to pH. PADEP also added one segment of Pine Creek to
the impaired waters list in 1998. Stakeholders have worked to restore the creek for nearly two decades
by installing active and passive AMD treatment systems. Water quality has improved and now meets
standards, so PADEP plans to remove the three impaired segments of Babb Creek's mainstem from
the state's 2010 CWA section 303(d) list for metals and pH. PADEP removed the impaired Pine Creek
segment from the 303(d) list in 2002.
Problem
Babb Creek flows through north-central
Pennsylvania and discharges into Pine Creek. The
two streams converge where Pine Creek flows
out of the Pine Creek Gorge. The 130-square-
mile-watershed is heavily forested. Much of it
is managed by the Pennsylvania Department of
Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) and
the Pennsylvania Game Commission. The his-
tory of coal mining in the Babb Creek watershed
began with deep mining at the end of the Civil
War. Underground mining reached a peak in the
early 1900s and was largely done by the mid 20th
century. Surface mining, while much more limited
than underground mining, resurged in the 1970s
and 80s. By 1990 active mining had ceased in the
watershed, but AMD continued to degrade nearby
waterbodies.
Babb Creek was declared biologically dead by the
early 1900s after a prolonged absence of aquatic
life. Iron and aluminum precipitate covered the
streambed (Figure 1). PADEP added three seg-
ments of the creek to the CWA section 303(d)
list of impaired waters in 1996 for elevated metal
levels and in 2002 for pH. A total of 13.89 miles
were included in the impaired classification. PADEP
developed a total maximum daily load (TMDL) for
Babb Creek and its tributaries in 2003.
A September 1998 report by a PADEP biologist
documents that Babb Creek had "abundances and
diversity lower than expected for a stream of this
size, few individuals in sensitive taxa." Another
PADEP biologist's August 1998 report on the
conditions at a different location on the mainstem
indicates that no mayflies were present in the
Figure Llron and aluminum precipitate cover the
bed of a mine discharge as it emerges from the
Anna S. Mine Complex and eventually flows into
Babb Creek.
stream, and that aluminum precipitate was found
on the substrate. PADEP collected fish samples
on July 30, 1990; data show that seven taxa of fish
were found at a control location upstream of any
AMD sources. PADEP biologists found no fish at
each of four remaining sampling sites downstream
of where they observed AMD impacts.
Project Highlights
In 1990 concerned citizens formed the Babb Creek
Watershed Association (BCWA). Since then, the
group has completed 16 projects throughout the
watershed, including installing successive alkalinity
producing systems and a lime treatment plant, re-
grading and re-vegetating land areas, removing coal
refuse, adding settling basins, creating wetlands,
injecting limestone slurry into an underground
mine, and installing a self-flushing limestone cell.
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Figure 2. A portion of the Anna S.
Passive Treatment System.
The Antrim Number
One Mine Treatment
Plant, which treats
one of the principal
sources of pollution
to Babb Creek, has
yielded the most
significant water qual-
ity improvements.
The discharge was
abandoned in the
mid-1900s. In 1982,
the Antrim Mining
Company began to
surface mine on top
of portions of the
abandoned underground mine. After compliance
action by PADEP, a Consent Order and Agreement
was issued in 1991 which required the Antrim Mining
Company to build a treatment plant. The plant was
turned over to the Antrim Treatment Trust when the
Consent Order and Agreement with PADEP was
amended in 1999. BCWA assumed operation and
maintenance of the facility in 2001. The system has
continually been upgraded over the years.
Another significant project in the watershed is
the Anna S. Passive Treatment System (Figure 2).
Constructed in 2004 and covering 20 acres, this is
the largest passive treatment system in the world
and treats the second largest source of AMD in the
watershed.
Table 1. Data collected in 2006 show that
Babb Creek meets water quality standards.
Results
The new treatment systems allow Babb Creek to
meet water quality standards for metals and pH
(Table 1). Moreover, in a recent sampling survey,
PADEP biologists documented a diversity of mayflies
and other macroinvertebrates in Babb Creek. Data
show that Index of Biotic Integrity (IBI) scores have
improved significantly. An IBI score of 63 or greater
supports removal of a stream from the impaired
waters list. Four sites sampled in March 2009 had
IBIs in the 80s and 90s, which are high enough to
warrant delisting and to allow Babb Creek to be con-
sidered for a more stringent water quality classifica-
tion. Additionally, in 1999 the Pennsylvania Fish and
Boat Commission (PaFBC) documented the return
of fish to three sampling locations where no fish had
been found in 1990 (Figure 3).
On the basis of these data, PADEP has petitioned
the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
Pollutant
Aluminum
Iron
Manganese
pH
Water Quality Standard [in
milligrams per liter (mg/L)]
< 0.75
< 1.5
< 1.0
> 6
Measured Value
(mg/L)
0.37
0.19
0.47
6.41
Total Fish Taxa Babb Creek Watershed
o
5 10
&
• DER-BMRSI-Jul-90
• PaFBC 19-Jun-96
D Mansfield Univ. 30-Apr-98
- • PaFBC 9-Aug-99
Mouth of Babb Creek
Location in Watershed
Figure 3 . Fish have returned to the Babb Creek
watershed after treatment. Data provided by PADEP's
Moshannon District Mining Office.
to remove the three segments of Babb Creek
from the impaired waters list in 2010. PADEP has
already removed (in 2002) the segment of Pine
Creek that was placed on the impaired waters list
in 1998. Additionally, PaFBC has upgraded Babb
Creek to a more stringent Wild Trout Stream water-
body classification.
Partners and Funding
Partners have spent approximately $10 million on
16 projects that are directly related to the impaired
stream segments in the watershed. Funding
sources have included Pennsylvania's Growing
Greener program, DCNR, the U.S. Department of
the Interior's Office of Surface Mining, the Heinz
Foundation, and EPA CWA section 104(b) and
section 319 funding. Many other partners have
contributed to the Babb Creek watershed efforts in
the past 20 years. BCWA receives a tipping fee for
waste deposited in a landfill as the result of a 1990
federal lawsuit. BCWA uses those funds to sup-
port restoration projects, including operating and
maintaining the existing treatment systems.
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U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Office of Water
Washington, DC
EPA841-F-09-001RR
December 2009
For additional information contact:
Joe Kelly, Pennsylvania Department of
Environmental Protection
717-783-2404 • josephkel@state.pa.us
Michael W. Smith, Pennsylvania Department of
Environmental Protection
814-342-8200 • michaesmit@state.pa.us
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