Nearly $1M in state grants will address mine drainage, stormwater in Westmoreland

The Turtle Creek Watershed stretches across 147 square miles, straddling Westmoreland and Allegheny counties.

With the support of a state grant, the 50-year-old watershed association plans to assess the many areas where abandoned mine discharges pollute the creek and its tributaries, to help qualify for additional funds to clean up the waterways.

The association recently received a $75,560 grant from the state Department of Environmental Protection, one of nine Growing Greener grants totaling nearly $1 million awarded to address mine drainage and stormwater issues in Westmoreland County.

The grant the watershed association received was one of 20 projects in Southwestern Pennsylvania that received more than $2.7 million in Growing Greener money to clean up waterways. Those organizations receiving the grants have up to three years to implement the projects.

“This is the first baby step in a gigantic process that would have a massive impact on cleaning the water,” said Turtle Creek Watershed Association board member Jason McCabe.

The grant will help cover consulting fees, equipment and other expenses needed to complete a study and seek approval as a qualified hydrologic unit, a status that McCabe said could give the association access to additional federal funding targeted for mine drainage cleanups.

According to McCabe, the association will need to look at more than 300 “impairment sources” that negatively impact streams in the watershed. At the top of the list is a mine drainage discharge underneath Alfieri Scrap Metal Co. that straddles Irwin and North Huntingdon on Glass Street. It pumps iron into Brush Creek, a Turtle Creek tributary, at an estimated rate of 6,000 gallons per minute, or 360,000 gallons each hour, said Robert Cronauer, watershed program manager for the Westmoreland Conservation District.

“It’s by far our biggest culprit,” said McCabe. “It’s the single largest untreated discharge in the commonwealth. At one point the stream turns orange because of the heavy iron content.” The iron content has been measured at 75 milligrams per liter, “a pretty high content,” Cronauer said.

According to McCabe, the Irwin discharge affects about 38 miles of waterway downstream. Low pH levels of between 5.5 and 6 have been recorded near the discharge, he said, allowing iron oxide to be displaced from the abandoned mine walls.

McCabe said the association is eager to begin the study, which he estimated could take a year to complete. One of the possible solutions is to drill a bore hole into the abandoned mine in the North Huntingdon village of Biddle to allow the water to escape and then treat it in settling ponds before it empties into the creek, Cronauer said.

First, the watershed group may have to investigate other funding sources, since it had sought a Growing Greener grant of about $120,000. Each of the grants also requires a local 15% match.

The Westmoreland Conservation District received the remainder of the Growing Greener grants in Westmoreland County, working with local partner municipalities or organizations.

Pigment extracted from sludge

Respective grants of $277,238 and $151,891 will help the Sewickley Creek Watershed Association perform needed maintenance of pond systems that treat abandoned mine drainage from the Brinkerton discharge in Mt. Pleasant Township and the Lowber discharge in Sewickley Township.

The ponds slow the liquid flowing from the discharges, allowing iron and other pollutants to settle out before the water is released into the creek, according to Cronauer, who also is president of the Sewickley association.

But, over time, sludge builds up on the bottom of the ponds, reducing their effectiveness. So, Cronauer said, the association will work with Hedin Environmental to dry the sludge and recover an iron oxide pigment that can be used in producing crayons and other items.

“It’s neat,” he said. “You can take something that’s otherwise a pollutant and make it into a marketable product.”

Also, he said, “We’re going to do some vegetation management and maybe change some embankments to make the water flow more efficient.”

He said the Brinkerton ponds will require more work since they are only about 65% effective in removing iron from the water, compared to an effective rate of 98% at the Lowber site.

Irwin Borough project

Irwin officials are hoping that an $85,756 streambank restoration project along the banks of a Tinkers Run tributary will reduce flooding at Irwin Park and stop erosion that has cut away some four feet of the bank of the stream, which runs underneath Route 30.

The project will address 450 feet of the stream — from a baseball field fence to the tunnel underneath Route 30 — by placing riprap along the stream adjacent to the walking path, said Shari Martino, who applied for the grant in her role as borough manager. Some of the streambank will be graded as well, Martino said.

Only one side of the stream will be protected with riprap because the park is not developed along the opposite side of the bank of the stream. Tinkers Run is a tributary of Brush Creek.

The borough will be required to provide about $10,267 in money or in-kind service, such as public works employees assisting in the streambank restoration, Martino said.

Irwin will be responsible for planting native trees, shrubs or bushes along the stream to help prevent erosion, Martino said.

“This project has been a long time in coming,” Martino said.

In the past three years, about 4 feet of the bank in a section that once held a bridge, has been eroded by heavy storms and flooding, Martino said.

Part of the project will address flooding in the park, which occurs after heavy rains, Martino said. Officials have discussed the running a pipe underneath a walking path that would drain water into the stream.

Runoff from parking lots at the park is to be controlled as well to prevent the erosion.

Stormwater solutions funded

Other Growing Greener grants in Westmoreland will tackle stormwater and erosion problems:

Westmoreland Heritage Trail bridge abutment and stream bank stabilization along Turtle Creek, $34,960. Materials including rip rap and logs will be used to control erosion and keep the bridge abutment from washing away.

Stormwater detention improvements along Route 22 in Murrysville, $97,633. A stormwater detention area will be created between Fox’s Pizza distribution center and Elite Custom Trucks to control flooding that has impacted the businesses and washed out a section of the Westmoreland Heritage Trail.

Stormwater retrofits for Derry Borough Municipal Water Authority, $113,500, and for Manor Borough, $133,500. Permeable paving and rain gardens will be used to capture runoff from office buildings and parking lots.

First Presbyterian Church of Murrysville stormwater retrofit, Phase 2, $29,820. Repairs will be made to aging infrastructure that directs runoff into a basin that curtails flooding of the Murrysville Volunteer Fire Company festival grounds and limits erosion and sedimentation in Haymaker Run and Turtle Creek.