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I NONPOINT SOURCE SUCCESS STURY
Addressing Acid Mine Drainage Improves Water Quality in Black
Branch and Cane Creek
Waterbodies Improved
High acidity in discharge from abandoned mines led to
increased metal levels and low pH in Black Branch and Cane
Creek, which in turn degraded aquatic habitat. As a result, Black Branch and Cane Creek were added
to Alabama's 1998 Clean Water Act (CWA) section 303(d) list of impaired waters for metals, pH,
siltation and other habitat alteration. Cane Creek was added for metals, pH, nutrients, siltation and
organic enrichment/dissolved oxygen. Several federal and state agencies collaborated to remediate
acid mine drainage in the watershed, partially restoring Black Branch and fully restoring Cane Creek.
As a result, Alabama removed Black Branch for siltation and metals, and Cane Creek for metals,
nutrients, pH, organic enrichment and siltation, from the 2014 list of impaired waters.
Problem
The 4.11-mlie-iong Biack Branch (segment
AL.03160109-0404-500) is a tributary to the
18.02-mile-long Cane Creek (three segments:
AL03160109-0404-101, -102 and -103) in the Biack
Warrior River Basin in central Alabama. Cane Creek
flows through the town of Oakman in Waiker County
(Figure 1). The Black Branch-Cane Creek watershed
consists of rural, forested land with agriculture and
abandoned surface mining areas.
Black Branch has a long history of underground coal
mining beginning in 1920. Abandoned mines in the
Black Branch-Cane Creek watershed discharged highly
acidic water into Black Branch, which created a mixing
zone at the confluence of Black Branch and Cane Creek
that degraded aquatic habitat and water quality.
In 1997 the Alabama Department of Industrial
Relations (ADIR) developed the Cane Creek Acid Mine
Drainage (AMD) Remediation Project, Walker County,
Alabama, Environmental Assessment, which noted
the streams were devoid of fish and plants and that
the AMD drainage had a corrosive effective on the
streams. Because of these condi tions, Black Branch
and Cane Creek were placed on the state of Alabama's
CWA section 303(d) list of impaired waters in '1998
for metals, pH, other habitat alteration and siltation.
Remediating Black Branch was essential for fully
restoring Cane Creek and improving the water quality
in Black Branch itself.
Figure 1. The Black Branch-Cane Creek watershed is in
central Alabama.
Project Highlights
The Black Branch Watershed Management Pian (WMP)
was written In 2005 to identify ways to reduce the
amount of AMD entering the stream. The plan's first
objective was to back-fill a collapsed mine subsidence
with limestone riprap to protect the safety of site
visitors. A secondary objective was to remediate the
gob pile (mining overburden) by relocating a portion
of the pile and covering the remaining part with one
to two feet of soil. Finally, a passive water treatment
consisting of a vertical flow system was constructed
to improve water quality in Red Branch, a tributary to
Black Branch. Restoration occurred from June 2006 to
May 2011 (Figure 2).
BKBW-1
Black Branch-Cane
sjACANW-
Legend
@ Sampling Stations
	Major Roads
	Impaired Streams
I I Black Branch - Crane Creek Watershed
[ Places	
Creek

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Figure 2. Watershed sites before (in 2006, top) and
after (in 2011, bottom) restoration occurred.
Results
implementing the recommendations outlined in the
Black Branch WMP helped decrease AMD. Water qual-
ity data collected in 2012 by ADEM showed increases
in pH compared to before restoration. Furthermore,
all the pH readings collected in 2012 fell within ADEM's
water quality standards criteria requiring pH to be
between 6.0 and 8.5 (Table 1). The pH values improved
over the course of the project. No violations occurred
at any of the three stations in reference to EPA's
recommended iron criteria. In addition, all stations
showed compliance with the 90th percentile eco-
reference guideline for iron. With respect to alumi-
num, all three stations reported exceedances of EPA's
recommended aluminum criteria; however, all three
stations median vaiues were below the 90th percentile
eco-reference guideline for aluminum (see Table 1).
Turbidity data collected in 2012 was below ADEM's
water quality criteria of 50 NTU above background.
Furthermore, median turbidity and total dissolved
solids concentrations are below the eco-reference
90th percentile; therefore, the numeric data meets
criteria and indicates low sediment levels. After
examining available water quality data and informa-
tion provided for Cane Creek, ADEM determined that
impairment due to metals, nutrients, pH, organic
enrichment, and siltation does not currently exist.
Black Branch is no longer impaired for siltation and
metals. As a result, ADEM removed both Cane Creek
and Black Branch from Alabama's 2014 CWA 303(d) list.
Partners and Funding
The Black Branch WMP, written by the Biack Warrior
Clean Water Partnership for the ADIR, addressed
the Implementation of the Black Branch Watershed
Project. Ali construction and remediation was
done under the supervision of ADIR's Mining and
Reclamation Division, Abandoned Mine Lands Program.
EPA and ADEM contributed $255,000 in CWA section
319 funds, which supported safety measures to
control erosion through the use of rip-rap, remediation
materials for the gob pile, and clearing and reshaping
the gob pile. The Abandoned Mine Land Reclamation
Program within ADIR's Mining and Reclamation
Division contributed $810,152 to remediate the gob
pile, construct the passive treatment system for Red
Branch, and conduct water quality monitoring of the
site before and after construction. They also led edu-
cational programs on the site. The Black Warrior Clean
Water Partnership compiled the Black Branch WMP for
the ADIR as an in-kind service.
Table 1, Before (1988/1996) and after (2012) implementation data collected at Station CANW-33 (CC-1).

Fe Dissolved
Fe Total
A1 Dissolved
A1 Total
DO (mg/L)
pH (s.u.)
Before
After
Before
After
Before
After
Before
After
Before
After
Before
After
Minimum
0.004
0.019
0.04
0.065
0
0.043
0.02
0.043
3.3
6.08
4.2
7.49
Maximum
297
0.04
76.5
0.143
53
0.078
75.4
0.286
7.7
9.08
8.2
8.02
Mean
46.18
0.022
14.57
0.111
9.32
0.054
11.13
0.1159
5.28
7.84
5.86
7.726
Median
0.49
0.019
0.74
0.096
0.06
0.053
0.1
0.098
4.6
7.97
6
7.78
75th %
1.14
0.021
26.6
0.139
0.12
0.058
2.25
0.1123
5.2
8.29
6.5
7.85
90th %
174.7
0.03
42.66
0.179
41.5
0.067
33.16
0.1859
7
8.93
7.22
8.002
Eco Ref 90%
0.588
0.588
0.1046
0.1046
0.1
0.1
0.3055
0.3055
6.79
6.79
7.84
7.84
Note: EPA criteria are Fe < 1 mg/Land AL< 0.0857 mg/L
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
0** Office of Water
\ Washington, DC
I
EPA 841-F-16-001DD
pro^° October 2016
For additional information contact:
Alabama Nonpoint Source Management Program
334-260-4501 • npsmail@adem.alabama.gov

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