Lower Lackawanna Watershed Restoration and Assessment Plan Meeting
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The Lower Lackawanna Watershed near Scranton, PA, is polluted by the largest abandoned mine drain (AMD) in the eastern US. The Old Forge Borehole spews 100 cubic feet per second of iron laden water into the Lackawanna River decimating the aquatic habitat and fish populations for miles downstream and into the Susquehanna River. This assessment was completed in 2012 and the plan recommends cleaning up this discharged and a related discharge, the Duryea Breach, in order to remove approximately 5 tons of iron per day using an active treatment plant. The plant could also have many other beneficial effects besides producing clean water, like hydroelectric power, geothermal heating, iron oxide resource recovery. With these added benefits, the initial ~$15 million investment in a plant could be paid off over and over again.
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Lower Lackawanna Watershed Restoration and Assessment Plan Meeting
- 1. Lower Lackawanna Watershed Restoration and Assessment Plan The Lower Lackawanna Watershed Stakeholders Group Meeting August 21, 2012 at Council Chambers Duryea Borough
- 3. Lower Lackawanna River Mine Drainage Impairment • Old Forge Borehole – Union Street • ~100 CFS (~45,000 GPM) • ~15 mg/l of iron (4 tons/day) • net (-) acidity • no other major pollution constituents • Duryea Breach • ~24 CFS (11,000 GPM) • ~20 mg/l of iron (1ton/day) • net (-) acidity • no other major pollution constituents
- 6. EPCAMR’s Mine Pool Maps and Old Forge Borehole Schematics
- 8. Past Studies • Historical studies researched – Dodge (1904) – Ash (1940s-1950s) – Gannet Fleming (1967) – PADEP TMDL (2005) exceeds maximum load by 1000% – SRBC (2011) Old Forge and Duryea contribute 25% of iron loading to the Susquehanna River.
- 9. Old Forge Flow Monitoring
- 14. Old Forge Water Quality Trend
- 15. Duryea Breach Water Quality Trend
- 16. Old Forge/Duryea Quality and Loading • Since highly (-) net acidic, no alkaline (lime) cost. • Large flows could be harnessed for electrical needs. • Since no alkaline material needed, iron sludge should be attractive to business/industry. Discharge Ave Flow CFS Ave Fe mg/l Ave Mn mg/l Ave Al mg/l Ave Net Acid mg/l Ave Fe Load tons/day Ave Mn Load tons/day Ave Al Load tons/day Ave Net Acid Load tons/day Old Forge 100 15.0 2.0 0.1 -69.0 4.0 0.5 ~0.0 -18.6 Duryea 24 17.0 2.3 0.1 -60.0 1.1 0.7 ~0.0 -3.9 Combined OF&D 124 5.1 1.2 ~0.0 -22.5 Lancashire #15 11 200.0 na 40 na (pH 2.7) 5.9 na 1.2 na (24 tons/day hydrated lime)
- 17. LLR-WRAP Purpose • To promote the development of an AMD treatment plant to treat both the OFBH and Duryea Breach. • To engender a community stakeholder’s partnership to advance the treatment plant development. • To advance a comprehensive plan for the larger 2000 acre confluence area in parts of Luzerne and Lackawanna Counties in Duryea and Old Forge Boroughs, the City of Pittston and Ransom Township.
- 18. SMCRA Reauthorization • Reauthorized in 2007 • PA could receive >$2 billion in restoration funding. Up to 30% of treat AMD. • Fund will expire in 2022 • Funds administered by PADEP Bureau of Conservation and Restoration. • Need Qualified Hydrologic Unit Plan to be eligible for funding.
- 19. LLR-WRAP Goal • Completion of QHUP by LRCA, EPCAMR and SRBC. • PADEP BC&R approve QHUP. • Initiate AMD treatment plant feasibility study. • If feasibly, construction of system. • Stakeholders collaborate to create an entity to fund and operate the Lower Lackawanna AMD treatment facility on a perpetual basis.
- 20. Lower Lackawanna Abandoned Industrial Sites
- 21. Industrial Site Potential • Service facilities to help manage Marcellus Industry. • Investment sites for a variety of sustainable and/or “green” industries. – Geothermal – Hydroelectric – Fe Hydroxide Sludge Reprocessing – Passive solar – Wind turbines • Large buffer areas of wetlands and natural habitats that could be managed for conservation and recreation surrounding industrial and commercial sites. • Good railroad access
- 22. Susquehanna River Consumptive Use Mitigation
- 23. Other LLR-WRAP Issues • Flood Control • Transportation planning and expansion to support Confluence site development • Water quality as related to MS4 and CSO systems • Stream corridor management related to water loss to the mine pool and degraded habitats • Upland surface mine reclamation needs
- 25. Lets Revitalize the Lackawanna Valley! LRCA, EPCAMR and SRBC are asking the community to join with us as the “Lower Lackawanna Coalition” to ADVANCE this plan to restore the Lower Lackawanna River Confluence area and develop a mine drainage treatment plant and create opportunities for additional public and private investment for commercial, industrial, conservation and residential uses of the lands and waters of the Confluence area.
- 26. Outcomes • PA DEP is requested to advance the OFBH and Duryea Breach QHUPs through the approval process, initiate feasibility studies and develop construction and operations and management program for a treatment plant. • Duryea Borough, Old Forge Borough, Ransom Township and the City of Pittston will consider collaboration on a comprehensive plan to address the Confluence area and the river corridor up through Old Forge. • This planning work will examine the need for and interest in the establishment of a Lower Lackawanna Development entity as a public or private agency with a long term mission to develop industrial commercial and residential opportunities and manage a mine drainage facility. • Duryea Borough, West Pittston Borough, County, State and Federal agencies will consider multiple objectives and the needs of Mine Drainage treatment and conservation management at the confluence with the design and development of new flood control programs. • Conservation and protection and appropriate management of the confluence areas natural and cultural resources will be integrated into all future planning and development programs. • Recreation and public open space management will be integrated into all planning and development programs in the Confluence area.
- 27. What are your recommendations, ideas, questions and concerns? Please direct your comments to Bernie McGurl, Executive Director, Lackawanna River Corridor Association at 570-347-6311 or to director@lrca.org
- 28. Funding Acknowledgements • Lackawanna County LECOR Program • Willary Foundation • SRBC • Foundation for Pennsylvania Watersheds
Editor's Notes
- The Lower Lackawanna Watershed covers about 40 square miles in parts of 10 municipalities in Lackawanna and Luzerne Counties. The main focus of this study area is a 2000 acre post-industrial landscape mid-way between Scranton and Wilkes-Barre.
- The mine pumping system that had kept the mines under the Lackawanna Valley dewatered was terminated on November 1, 1961. During the winter of 1961-62 the mine voids became flooded and surcharged out any available outlet to the surface such as boreholes, entry shafts and slopes, air shafts and surface subsidence fractures. Mine drainage flows caused damages to both public and private properties and threatened human health and safety. A subsurface anticlinal feature called the Moosic Anticline helps to define the Lackawanna Basin of the Northern Anthracite Field. Rock ledges reveal its crest in the bed of the Lackawanna River at Old Forge and Jermyn.
- The flooded mine complex under the Lower and Middle Lackawanna Valley is now referred to as the Metropolitan Scranton Mine Pool (MSMP). It contains an estimated seventy (70) billion gallons of water, which is a water body about 3/4 the size of Lake Wallenpaupack. The smaller Upper Lackawanna Mine Pool (ULMP) lies under the vicinity of Carbondale. It contains approximately forty (40) billion gallons of water and flows into the river through the Jermyn Mine Tunnel. In order to relieve flooding mine drainage problems, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania directed the installation of the Old Forge Bore Hole (OFBH). It became operational in September 1962, fifty years ago. Recent flow measurements have ranged from: 85 to 120 CFS (55 to 77.5 MGD). Yielding an average flow of 99 CFS or 64 MGD. These flows indicate that OFBH is the largest Abandoned Mine Drain (AMD) the Anthracite region and perhaps the largest AMD in the eastern United States.
- The Lower Lackawanna is also impacted by AMD flows from the Duryea Breach. This is a subsidence fracture caused by the collapse of the Phoenix Shaft at Canal Street in Duryea. Following the shaft collapse the mine pool surcharged and broke open the ground about 1000 feet south of the shaft into the remnants of the Duryea Canal Boat Basin. From there it eroded a channel for 800 feet to flow into the Lackawanna River just above the Coxton Road Bridge.
- The Confluence of the Lackawanna and Susquehanna Rivers hosts a strategic junction of road, rail and utility infrastructure. The rivers, mine pool discharges, and a topography of flooded soil and gravel quarry pits along the flood plain create a unique and un tapped water resource management area that can have significant economic and conservation benefits for the entire region. We recommend that a comprehensive plan be developed involving multiple partners to address these opportunities and address the myriad of constraints to the highest and best sustainable use of this resource area.