HOPE HOLLOW

The Problem: Located in Scott Township about 1.5 miles southwest of the Whiskey Run discharge and a quarter mile east on Hope Hollow Road, the largest measured discharge is easily seen gushing down about 30 feet from under the high railroad bridge. However the brownish seep is seen along the entire hillside between Washington and Green Tree roads for 1 ˝ miles. All of these discharges foul Georges Run for its 1 ˝ mile-run to the main channel. It’s a very visible eyesore, especially in dormant season when groundcover does not hide it. Sometimes it is foul-smelling. The discharge originally flowed from a pipe that extended about 25 feet, but long broken, it runs about 50 feet from the steep embankment. During the course of the year, another discharge was investigated on the opposite side of the same hill and at the same elevation. Its chemistry was similar, but about 10 % of the flow (50 gpm). It has been named the “O’Hommel Discharge”, because it is on property owned by the O’Hommel Corp. It comes from the original main entrance to the Mansfield Mine. The main discharge has moderate flow, but the second largest iron loading and acidity. There are four identified mines that may drain to this site. The Recharge area is about 2,550 acres with an average inflow about .20 gpm/acre. Adding the O’Hommel discharge would net an average discharge of 600 gpm and .23 gpm/acre inflow. If O’Hommel was sealed, all of the drainage could be directed to the Hope Hollow discharge, which could be directed to another location for more effective remediation. The drainage originates at an elevation of 1010 land, goes west to the outlet at 884. Mining occurred in the early 1900’s. There is probably only a small local pool at the discharge.

The Solution:  Keep aware of: Industrial opportunities who need large water supply (1 MGD) and advances in in-mine AMD treatment.  Currently, the Hope Hollow discharge is low priority because the cost will be very high, and the impact on Chartiers Creek is currently low because the stream is already so degraded.  Recommend no effort at this time to treat discharge.

WHISKEY RUN

The Problem: The Whiskey Run discharge is located in Green Tree Borough and is the northern most of the discharge points and the furthest downstream. It is easily seen after defoliation in late fall on the right inbound on the Parkway West about a half mile from the Carnegie exit. It appears as a chocolaty brown cone on the hillside beside a small park. The fouled Whiskey Run then continues about 0 .7 mile under the Parkway and empties into Chartiers Creek just below the Parkway, crossing at a point about 7 miles from the Ohio River. 

The Whiskey Run discharge is an upwelling iron deposit. While it has the lowest pH, its flow volume is among the lowest of the nine discharges and accounts for the lowest iron loading. A small flume was installed for flow measure. There are four mines in the vicinity. There is probably no pool in the mine network that is associated with this discharge. The discharge point is at the lowest part of the mine workings, so that water can flow along the floor to the opening with no intervening pool.  

There are indications that a drain to Whiskey Run was installed in order to direct the discharge to the existing outlet, so as to maintain working conditions. If this drain had not been installed, this drainage would probably have been transferred to the Hope Hollow discharge over 1 ˝ miles away. Based on an average discharge of 170 gpm and a drainage area of 1080 acres (1.7 sq mi), the average recharge (continuing feed of water) is 0.16 gpm/acre.

The Solution:   Treatment would consist of 2000 ton ALD and 1.5 acre constructed wetland. Room could be cut out along the Parkway. Stream is impacted by other small seeps along the streambed.   Low priority because treatment will have negligible impact on Chartiers Creek and Whiskey Run is not a high valued stream. 

ROBINSON RUN & CAMPBELLS RUN 

Campbells Run and Robinson Run are the source of several discharges into Chartiers Creek.  Robinson Run, in particular, is one of the major tributaries that flows into Chartiers Creek in the lower portion of the watershed. Because of the magnitude of abandoned mine discharges into these tributaries, they deserve separate consideration, requiring their own study and remediation program.  Until Robinson Run can be cleaned up, Chartiers Creek will continue to flow with AMD, as  samples taken from the location of the USGS Hammond gauge in Carnegie illustrate..   

The Problem: The Robinson Run watershed has experienced significant stream channel disintegration and deterioration from numerous abandoned mine drainage discharges, with available data indicating that 85% of the surface waters are impacted. The Wanashee Conservancy estimates that at least 62 stream miles contained in the Robinson Run watershed are impaired by a variety of point and non point source pollutants, including siltation, abandoned mine drainage, gob piles, nutrients, metals, and organic enrichment (multiple non-point pollution sources). The recent, sudden and huge Nickel Plate Mine AMD discharge created a serious public safety problem in the borough of McDonald and added millions of gallons of AMD to the watershed and the upper Ohio River.

The Solution: The Wanashee Conservancy has been awarded a $70,000 Growing Greener grant by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection to develop a watershed plan for the Robinson Run watershed.  A watershed plan is a necessary first step to determining the scope of AMD problems in order to prioritize the steps to remediation.