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Section 319
NDNPDINT SOURCE PROGRAM SUCCESS STORY
Reclaiming Abandoned Mine Lands Improves the Lehigh River
Waterbody Improved
Metals and acidity in runoff from abandoned surface mines
and discharges from abandoned deep mines impaired
Pennsylvania's Lehigh River and some of its tributaries, prompting the Pennsylvania
Department of Environmental Protection (PADEP) to add 25.1 miles of watershed streams
to the state's Clean Water Act (CWA) section 303(d) list of impaired waters in 2002. Project
partners reclaimed and treated 297.9 acres of abandoned mine lands to address pollutant
loadings. Water quality improved downstream of the reclamation sites, allowing PADEP to
remove a 14.7-mile-long segment of the Lehigh River from the list of impaired waters in 2012.
Problem
The headwaters of the Lehigh River flow from
the Lehigh Marshes just north of Gouldsboro,
Pennsylvania. The river then meanders 103 miles
through eastern Pennsylvania, draining an area of
approximately 1,363 square miles before flowing
into the Delaware River near Easton, Pennsylvania
(Figure 1). The Lehigh River is the second largest
tributary to the Delaware River—its watershed
comprises 11 percent of the Delaware River
drainage basin. The upper and middle portions of
the Lehigh River watershed, including portions of
Carbon, Luzerne, Monroe, Schuylkill, Lackawanna,
and Wayne counties, support high-quality trout
fisheries. A 32-mile stretch of the Lehigh River (from
the Francis E. Walter Dam to the borough of Jim
Thorpe) is designated as a Pennsylvania Scenic
River. This section of the river flows through Lehigh
Gorge State Park and Pennsylvania State Game
Lands, and it is a popular Class II and III Whitewater
recreational resource.
Coal mining first began in the Lehigh River water-
shed in 1792, and it continues today. Deep coal
mining, which involves the extraction of coal from
deep deposits hundreds to thousands of feet below
the surface, was prevalent until the 1940s, at which
time surface mining became the primary mining
method. A number of abandoned coal mining sites
(of both types) in the watershed, dating back to the
1800s, have contributed nonpoint source pollution
to nearby waterbodies.
As rainwater and snowmelt flow through surface
mines and spoil piles (excavated soils that were
removed during mining), they become laden with
metals and acidity. Most of this water percolates
down through the depressions left by the aban-
PA
Lehigh River
Watershed\f\
Figure 1. The Lehigh River watershed (red) is in a portion of
eastern Pennsylvania underlain by coal fields.
doned surface mines and then flows down into
subterranean deep mine pools, where ground water
has accumulated after mining operations ended.
The runoff leaches additional acidity and metals as
it passes through underlying sulfur-rich strata and
into deep mine pools, thereby significantly com-
pounding the toxicity and volume of the abandoned
mine drainage (AMD) discharges associated with
the legacy deep mine pools.
Over the years, polluted runoff from a number of
abandoned surface coal mines and AMD from
deep mines in the watershed delivered high loads
of metals and acidity to the Lehigh River and its
tributaries. A stream survey conducted by PADEP in
1998 showed that the Index of Biotic Integrity (IBI)
scores for the Lehigh River fell below the state's
numeric water quality criterion, a minimum IBI score
of 63. The IBI is a multimetric index that measures
different aspects of the biological communities
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present to distinguish between reference condi-
tions and stressed aquatic ecosystem conditions.
The 1998 stream survey also found high levels of
metals and acidity (indicated by low pH values)
in the Lehigh River, which the state attributed to
AMD. On the basis of these data, in 2002 PADEP
included 25.1 stream miles of the mainstem of the
Lehigh River on the state's CWA section 303(d) list
of impaired waters for not meeting the aquatic life
designated use because of metals and acidity from
AMD. The 25.1 stream miles added to the list were
later broken into two segments—a 14.7-mile seg-
ment and a 10.4-mile segment.
In 2009 PADEP developed a total maximum daily
load (TMDL) for the impaired segments of the
Lehigh River in the upper and middle portions of
the watershed. The TMDL set limits for the metals
(aluminum, iron, and manganese) and acidity loads
at stations on the Lehigh River. These limits, which
vary from station to station depending on the site-
specific existing pollutant loads, serve as remedia-
tion goals. The limits are intended to allow each site
to meet water quality criteria 99 percent of the time.
Project Highlights
The federal Office of Surface Mining and the PADEP
Bureau of Abandoned Mine Reclamation partnered
to address the water quality problems identified in
the TMDL. The partners designed and implemented
11 abandoned mine reclamation projects, which
restored 297.9 acres of abandoned mine lands in
the Lehigh River watershed through grading and
revegetation. The projects aimed to reduce met-
als and acidity in surface and ground water while
improving aquatic habitat.
Results
PADEP conducted aquatic habitat assessments in
the Lehigh Gorge in 2008 and 2011 to quantify the
recolonization of aquatic life in the waterway. The
data showed IBI values of 87.4 and 88.8, respective-
ly. Both values exceeded the minimum IBI score of
63, indicating that the aquatic ecosystem is healthy
and unimpaired. On the basis of these data, PADEP
removed a 14.7-mile-long segment (Assessment ID
16581) of the middle mainstem of the Lehigh River
(from Buck Mountain Creek downstream to the con-
fluence with Nesquehoning Creek) from the list of
impaired waters in 2012 (Figure 2). Project partners
attribute the delisting of this segment to the aban-
Lehigh River Delisted Segment
^^^^^^^H
Assessment ID 16581
Daisied mainstem
— Impaired tributaries
— Impaired mainstem
— Unimpaired waters
Figure 2. A 14.7-mile segment of the Lehigh River mainstem was
removed from the impaired waters list in 2012 after restoration
projects improved water quality and aquatic habitat.
doned mine land reclamation projects upstream
in the watershed. The remaining 10.4 miles of the
mainstem remain listed as impaired.
Partners and Funding
The Lehigh River Watershed is large and contains
numerous impaired segments both upstream and
downstream of the restored segment. As such,
restoration efforts have occurred both upstream
and downstream of the restored segment.
Partners such as Eastern Pennsylvania Coalition for
Abandoned Mine Reclamation have received 319
funds to analyze the legacy mining issues within
the watershed which has helped guide watershed
restoration efforts. PADEP's TMDL section has also
received 319 funds, which were partly used to col-
lect and analyze water quality data for development
of the model used for the Lehigh River TMDL, which
in turn was used to help steer restoration efforts.
The federal Office of Surface Mining (OSM) and
PADEP's Bureau of Abandoned Mine Reclamation
had direct roles in restoring this segment as
outlined within the success story. Restoration work
completed downstream will contribute to further
restoration of the greater watershed but did not
contribute to restoring this segment. Additionally,
with funds from an EPA CWA section 104(b)(3)
grant, the Wildlands Conservancy conducted a
comprehensive assessment of the Lehigh River in
1998 to prioritize the watershed areas affected by
mining. Finally, PADEP used $3,121,000 from the
OSM from 1986 to 2006 to reclaim 297.9 acres of
abandoned mine lands.
UJ
O
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Office of Water
Washington, DC
EPA841-F-14-001H
February 2014
For additional information contact:
Scott N. Heidel
Water Program Specialist
Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection
717-772-5647 • scheidel@pa.gov
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