| Abandoned Mine Treatment Projects |
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Max B. Noble Mine Drainage Remediation Project
Also known as Sagamore, this project is named after the now-deceased owner of the land where the project is located. This project was the first undertaken by MWA. The system consists of the collection of two underground mine discharges from the abandoned Sagamore Coal Company's Big Chief Mine and the relocation and reclamation of a 70,00 cubic yard gob pile. This system also includes two windmills, designed to add oxygen to the water in order to cause the iron to drop out faster. The treatment system now removes about 87% of the iron load, 70% of the aluminum load, and 61% of the acid load. |
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Perma-Press
The Perma-Press is so named because it treats a discharge with very little iron. The discharge now treated by this system flows from a reclaimed strip mine at a rate of 20 to 35 gallons per minute. The discharge is very high in aluminum (23 mg/L) and acidity (150 mg/L). The system is designed to raise the pH of the water to about 7.0 so that the aluminum may precipitate or settle out. A limestone bed is used to raise the pH, and the bed is automatically flushed every 32 hours to discharge the aluminum into a settling pond. The Perma-Press system was completed in June 2005. |
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Gallentine
The Gallentine Project is a passive treatment system on six acres of land. It treats an acidic discharge which formerly flowed into Indian Creek. This sytem is designed to treat the discharge in an alkalinity-producing limestone pond, a settling basin and a compost wetland. Unfortunately, following construction of the Gallentine treatment system, a blow-out in the mine drastically altered the chemistry of the discharge. Because the treatment system was not built to treat the new water chemistry, this system is currently being redesigned, wtih the hopes that construction of a new treatment system in the same location will begin soon.
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Anna and Steve Gdosky Indian Creek Restoration Project
This 10 acre project treats what is known as the Kalp Discharge, responsible for over 40% of the total pollution load in the Indian Creek watershed. This discharge produces over 184 milion gallons of acidic mine water every year. This water previously entered Indian Creek, carrying with it about 76,800 lbs. (38.5 tons) of iron along with other metals. Beause of its impact to adjacent homes, properties, public highways, and the potential for a mine pool blowout, this mine pool was long been recogonized as a health and safety problem. Our treatment system was completed in Fall of 2007, is currently cleaning up over 8 miles of the main stem of Indian Creek. The total price tag for this project was $3.4 million! |
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