•
Section 319
NONPOINT SOURCE PROGRAM SOCGESS STORY
West
Treating Acid Mine Drainage Improves Severn Run
Waterbody Improved
Add mine drainage (AMD) from atdoned coal mines
impaired West Virginia s Severn Run. As a result, the West
Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) added the 4.7-mile-long stream to its
Clean Water Act (CWA) section 303(d) list of impaired waters in 1998. Project partners have
installed numerous passive AMD treatment systems, which have significantly reduced the
metals and acidity loadings into Severn Run, allowing benthic macroinvertebrate populations
to rebound in 3.3 miles of the 4.7 listed stream miles.
Problem
The Sovern Run watershed is a sub-watershed
of the Big Sandy Creek watershed, which is part
of the Cheat River watershed in West Virginia.
The Sovern Run watershed drains approximately
5.36 square miles and empties into Big Sandy Creek
at Rockville, West Virginia (Figure 1).
This region of West Virginia historically supported
numerous coal mining operations. Before 1977, no
regulations requiring stabilization of coal mining
operations were in place, so many were abandoned
without any effort to seal the mine shafts and
remove refuse. Over the years, water percolating
through the mines and waste areas has reacted
with coal-bearing minerals containing crystalline
forms of iron sulfide, forming AMD. The headwaters
of Sovern Run are heavily polluted by AMD from
several deep mine discharges and acidic seeps
throughout the watershed.
Data collected in 1996 in Sovern Run showed low
pH levels and high concentrations of manganese,
iron and aluminum. As a result, DEP added the
entire 4.7-mile length of the stream to the 1998
CWA section 303(d) list of impaired waters for pH
and metals. In 2001 DEP developed a total maxi-
mum daily load (TMDL) for numerous impaired
waters in the Cheat River watershed, including
Sovern Run. After West Virginia's water quality stan-
dards were revised, DEP developed a revised TMDL
in 2010. The revised TMDL provides updated load
allocations for aluminum, iron and net acidity (pH).
Project Highlights
Legend
lh» Sovern Run Watershed
n Lower Sovern Benthic Site
Q Upper Sovern Benthic Site
O Clark Project
® Bishoff Steel Slag Pond
© Sovern 62 Project
9 Limestone Sand Project
© Tichnell Project
& Eanes Project
In 1995 the River of Promise, a partnership of
state and federal agencies, academia, concerned
citizens and Friends of the Cheat (FOC), was formed
Figure 1. Sovern Run is in northern West Virginia.
to assess and remediate AMD in the lower Cheat
River watershed. In 2005 the partnership devel-
oped a watershed-based plan (WBP) for the lower
Cheat River watershed, and the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) approved the plan. Having
such a plan in place enabled FOC and West Virginia
University's National Mine Land Reclamation Center
(NMLRC) to pursue CWA section 319 funding from
DEP's Nonpoint Source Program to design, con-
struct and monitor AMD systems.
Since then, watershed partners have installed
passive AMD treatment systems in the Sovern Run
watershed (see Figure 1) with cooperation from
-------
Figure 2. The Bishoff Steel slag bed treatment system,
constructed in 2010, adds excess alkalinity to the main
stem of Severn Run.
private landowners. The treatment systems include
a mix of open limestone channels, limestone leach
beds, limestone separation dams, addition of
limestone fines, steel slag check dams, and steel
slag leach beds (Figure 2). They also include natural
ponds and wetlands to neutralize acidity, add alka-
linity and capture metals. In addition, the partners
plan to install one new AMD treatment system and
improve an old system in 2013.
Results
Since 2003 the AMD treatment systems have
yielded significant load reductions—an estimated
442,000 pounds per year (Ib/yr) in net acidity,
45,000 Ib/yr in aluminum, 33,800 Ib/yr in iron
and 3,200 Ib/yr in manganese. The estimated
load reductions are translating into water quality
improvements. FOC and its partners have been
collecting data on Severn Run since the late 1990s.
The data show that levels of metals and acidity have
dropped, particularly between 1997 and 2006, coin-
ciding with the installation of the first three treat-
ment systems. By 2010 data collected at the mouth
of Severn Run showed that levels of aluminum, iron
and acidity met water quality standards (Figure 3).
Aquatic habitat conditions have also improved. FOC
recently completed its biannual benthic macroinver-
tebrate sampling to monitor changes in biological
integrity. The data are still being analyzed, but field
observations indicate increased populations and
diversity of macroinvertebrates. In addition, property
owners have noted that fish and aquatic plants have
returned to the stream. DEP has not yet removed
\
-X— Al
-Acidity
-- -Al Standard ........... FeStandard
\v
60
-50
-40
-30 =5,
E,
-20 &
S
W
-10 •*
1997 2001 2006 2007 2008
Yearly Averages
2009
2010
Figure 3. Data collected at the mouth of Severn Run show that
pollutant levels have dropped since 1997.
Severn Run from the list of impaired waters, but
it has noted dramatic improvements on at least
3.3 miles of the 4.7-mile-long listed segment.
Partners and Funding
These projects were implemented by River of
Promise partners, including FOC, NMLRC, DEP's
Nonpoint Source and Abandoned Mine Land
Reclamation (AMLR) programs, the federal Office of
Surface Mining (OSM), private businesses, land-
owners and many volunteers.
FOC staff and volunteers, in cooperation with
NMLRC staff, completed the chemical and field
sampling for the projects. NMLRC generated the
conceptual designs for the systems. Private con-
sultants and contractors conducted the surveying,
engineering and construction. Volunteer landown-
ers Mark Dixon and Brian Sell constructed the
Severn Sands site.
Total restoration costs to date are approximately
$2.2 million, of which about 40 percent ($891,000)
has been funded through EPA CWA section
319 grants provided by DEP's Nonpoint Source
Program. Cost-share support has been provided
by the OSM's Watershed Cooperative Agreement
Program ($244,000) and private industry funds
from mitigation administered by DEP's AMLR
Program ($683,000). DEP's Division of Mining
and Reclamation Program also provided support
through its Stream Restoration Fund ($395,000),
and the NiSource Environmental Challenge provided
some Severn Sands site funding ($3,000).
us
o
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Office of Water
Washington, DC
EPA841-F-13-001I
February 2013
For additional information contact:
Amanda Pitzer
Friends of the Cheat
304-329-3621 • Amanda@cheat.org
J. Brady Gutta
National Mine Lands Reclamation Center
304-293-7002 • jbgutta@mail.wvu.edu
------- |