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I NONPOINT SOURCE SUCCESS STURY
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Passive Treatment Improves Water Quality and Trout Population in
Upper Schuylkill River
Waterbody Improved
Drainage from abandoned mines contributed high metal loads
to the Upper Schuylkill River. The Pennsylvania Department of
Environmental Protection (PADEP) added 34.32 miles of the mainstem stream to the state's 1996
Clean Water Act (CWA) section 303(d) list of impaired waters. Project partners installed four passive
acid mine drainage (AMD) treatment systems at a cost of $2.5 million to remedy the impact of
mine drainage discharges into the Upper Schuylkill River. Water quality and aquatic habitat have
improved in the upper 8 miles of the headwaters around the town of New Philadelphia. As a result,
the Schuylkill Headwaters Association, Schuylkill Conservation District and Schuylkill County Trout
Unlimited formed a partnership to create a trout habitat project in the Upper Schuylkill River. Water
quality improvement efforts are continuing.
Problem
The Upper Schuylkill River watershed drains approxi-
mately 264 square miles in Schuylkill County in east
central Pennsylvania (Figure 1). The watershed is
primarily forested but has experienced significant
environmental impairment due to discharges from
abandoned mines that date back to the early 1800s. A
stream survey conducted by PADEP Indicated that the
Upper Schuylkili River has a degraded aquatic ecosys-
tem with depressed aquatic life due to AMD impacts.
Nonpoint source runoff from these AMD discharges
delivers high metal loads to the Upper Schuylkiii River.
In 1996, PADEP added 34.32 stream miles of the main
stem of the Upper Schuylkili River to the state's list of
impaired waters. PADEP developed a total maximum
daily load (TMDL.) for the Upper Schuylkili River water-
shed, which established limits for aluminum, iron and
manganese ioads along stations on Upper Schuylkill
River. These limits, which vary per station based on
site-specific existing pollutant loads, serve as goals for
remediation.
Story Highlights
The headwaters of the Schuylkill River and its many
tributaries are located within the Southern Anthracite
Coal Field, one of four major coal fields that are
within the Appalachian mountains. Major sources
of AMD discharges occur at 12 known deep-mine
Figure 1. I he Upper Schuylkill River watershed is in east
central Pennsylvania.
discharges and are treated as nonpoint sources. In
1999, the Schuylkill Conservation District received a
CWA section 319 grant from the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) to assess the Upper Schuylkill
River. Using the assessment data, the project partners
developed a watershed implementation plan identify-
ing 27 priority areas, which was approved in 2005.
The Schuylkill Conservation District, along with PADEP
Bureau of Abandoned Mine Reclamation, built four
passive treatment systems targeting the highest-
ranking discharges based on total metal loadings in
the headwaters (Figure 2).
TMDL Stream Sampling Points
Schuylkill Main stem
Mill Creek
West Branch Schuylkill
West West Branch
Muddy Branch
Panther Creek
Uttle Schuylkill River

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Results
Various sites along the stream have been monitored
since 2005. A few TMDL. points were chosen as
sample points to measure any improvements. The
first sampling location, TMDL point SRM, Is located 6
miies downstream from the headwaters in Mlddieport
and below three of the constructed systems. Further
downstream, TMDL point SRNP is located around 8
miies from headwaters in New Philadelphia and beiow
four of the passive treatment systems. Using TMDL
data (2005-2006) as baseline, water quality at these
sampling points has improved significantly. Although
there are a few more discharges in the watershed that
need to be addressed, data collected at TMDL point
SRM show a decrease in iron from 0.64 mg/L (before
treatment) to 0.47 mg/L (after treatment), a decrease
in manganese from 0.94 mg/L (before treatment) to
0.73 mg/L (after treatment), and a decrease of acidity
from 17.28 mg/L (before treatment) to 0 mg/L (after
treatment). Data collected at TMDL point SRNP show a
decrease in iron from 1.85 mg/L (before treatment) to
0.87 mg/L (after treatment), a decrease in manganese
from 1.05 mg/L (before treatment) to 0.88 mg/L (after
treatment), and a decrease of acidity from 2.1 mg/L
(before treatment) to 0 mg/L (after treatment).
Post-treatment readings demonstrate that the water
quality of the river has improved tremendously due
to the construction of the passive treatment systems.
Water quality at New Philadelphia, downstream from
the treatment systems, is net alkaline providing a
much better habitat for fish. As a result,. Schuylkill
Headwaters Association, Schuylkill Conservation
District and Schuylkill Trout Unlimited partnered to
create a trout habitat project. This project included
installation of log framed stone deflectors, a single log
vane deflector, log framed cross vanes and random
boulders (Figures 3 and 4). Many more partners and
37 volunteers are involved with plans to expand the
project and build more structures in the future.
Partners and Funding
Schuylkill Headwaters Association, Schuylkill
Conservation District, U. S. Office of Surface
Mining, Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission,
Delaware River Basin Commission, Philadelphia
Water Department, the Pennsylvania Department of
Figure 3. A log framed stone deflector was added.
Figure 4. Plunge pool habitat was created.
Community and Economic Development, and PADEP
partnered to address the water quality problems in the
Upper Schuylkill River watershed. Through 2018, the
group was awarded $627,950 from Growing Greener
and approximately $2,500,000 from EPA CWA section
319 funds to complete projects in the watershed.
Figure 2. Partners installed an AMD passive treatment
system on Silver Creek (a tributary).
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U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Office of Water
Washington, DC
EPA 841-F-21-001D
March 2021
For additional information contact:
Ann Devine
Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection
717-772-5653 • adevine@pa.gov

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