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Email: "Effort afoot to correct acid mine drainage"
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Yellow Creek, according to an Ohio Environmental Protection Agency biological study, is one of the healthiest streams in the state. But there are a couple areas of acid mine drainage that temporarily spoil the overall quality of the watershed. One area of acid mine drainage that is being studied is at the headwaters of Wolf Run, a tributary of Yellow Creek. Maggie Corder, Yellow Creek Watershed coordinator with the Jefferson Soil and Water Conservation District, said there are four areas in the watershed that contribute acid mine water into the streams. The discharges in Hammondsville and Irondale are considered too small to have a significant impact. The Jensie Mine site off Wolf Run Road (county Road 75) and an area off county Road 53 that directly discharges into Yellow Creek are the worst acid mine discharges, Corder said. She noted the Yellow Creek Watershed has received funding from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Mineral Resources Management, to study ways to correct the acid mine water discharge at the Jensie Mine. A draft of the plan, costing $150,000, should be ready by next summer, and work could begin in late 2010. The Jensie Mine was once a deep shaft mine that is recognized by ODNR as the deepest in Ohio at 480 feet below the surface. Once underground mining operations ceased, the ground above was strip mined. Corder said water is seeping through a gob pile, the residual material from coal mining, at the Jensie Mine site and into a long culvert. The water coming out of the culvert has a pH level equivalent to vinegar, resulting in no aquatic life existing in the headwaters of Wolf Run, Corder said. Fixes for the acid mine drainage could include changing the culvert or diverting the ground water away from the gob pile, she said. Thirteen groundwater monitoring wells were drilled in May 2008 at the Jensie Mine site. Corder and other staff from the Jefferson Soil and Water Conservation District check monthly water samples from the wells and use electronic testing equipment to determine the pH level of the water and the amount of metals, such as aluminum and iron, in the sample. ODNR is still working on a plan to correct the acid mine drainage at the county Road 53 site. Corder said the mine water is coming directly out of the side of a hill into Yellow Creek, and she noted there isn’t much room for corrective action, such as limestone which naturally changes the pH level of water. Corder said Yellow Creek’s general healthy condition can be attributed to the limestone that forms the bed of the creek. Also, there are so many tributaries to Yellow Creek meaning there is a constant flow of water. Corder said officials were able to get funding to correct acid mine drainage because of the creation of the Yellow Creek Watershed Restoration Coalition, which was formed in 1998. The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency first studied the Yellow Creek watershed in 1983 and noted impacts on water quality from mining operations have decreased and are localized. A report released in May 2008 by the Ohio EPA showed at least 90 percent of the creek is classified as good quality and the water quality of Yellow Creek is among the best in the state. Corder said the only other problem with the creek is discharge from faulty septic tanks and runoff from farms with livestock. She said that is keeping Yellow Creek from meeting is recreational use goals, which include wading, canoeing and fishing. (Law can be contacted at mlaw@heraldstaronline.com.)

 

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