The nine-acre Webster treatment system uses a series of two limestone and
compost -lined ponds and a wetland to raise the pH (a measure of acidity and
alkalinity) of the discharge to allow metals to drop out of the water, and to
reduce sulfates and remove other pollutants before the water flows into the
Blacklick Creek. SACRAMENTO, Calif.

platypus waternunc

The U.

rainwater hydrological

edf watershed

PA DEP Marks Completion of Webster Mine Discharge Treatment System in Cambria County

"The success of this
partnership is a tribute to the support of people from all levels of
government and the local watershed and community groups who have demonstrated
so clearly how working together can amplify efforts to address pressing
environmental issues., Jones + Stokes, the
Sacramento-based environmental consultant firm, today announced that it had
been selected by the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board to
help refine its existing program to regulate discharges from irrigated lands,
and to prepare the related programmatic environmental documentation.
"We look forward to evaluating various regulatory options for the Board to
reduce water contamination from irrigation runoff," said Rushton.

tributary aral

Facility Will Remove Major Source of Acid Mine Drainage to Blacklick Creek

NANTY GLO, Pa.
"While we celebrate this achievement, we must not lose sight of how much
work remains to be done to restore the health of this and other major
watersheds in Pennsylvania," Roberts said.
Governor Rendell has also taken a leadership role in requesting Congress
to reauthorize a federal mine reclamation fund for Pennsylvania to secure its
fair share.

"We want to continue and expand efforts to fully involve stakeholders, water
districts, farmers, and the general public in all aspects of developing and
refining the program, and in preparing the environmental documentation," said
Rushton .

Water 'resources' are the waters that people use or might use for human consumption, industry, etc.

unep hec

, Officials from the Pennsylvania
Department of Environmental Protection today joined local, state and federal
officials to mark completion of the $3. The Lorraine pile is being processed for use as fuel at
a nearby cogeneration power plant, which will remove all remaining sources of
acid drainage into Pergrin Run.
For more information on acid mine drainage, visit DEP's Web site at
http://www.

rainwater watershed

S.pa.

watersheds edf

Scott Roberts said. Rendell's ongoing
efforts to reclaim thousands of abandoned mine sites that exist throughout the
Commonwealth. Under a reauthorization proposal currently before Congress,
Pennsylvania's share of funding could increase from roughly to $35 million
annually from $24 million per year."

CONTACT: Tom Rathbun, Pennsylvania Department of Environmental
Protection, +1-717-787-1323. Growers
within the Central Valley who have irrigation return water and/or stormwater
runoff leaving their croplands choose from three options to comply with the
waiver program.

aral hydrological

The Governor's Growing Greener II initiative proposes $100 million over
four years to address a vast array of environmental and public health problems
at abandoned mine sites. The most commonly accepted option is to join a coalition
group of other growers to fund the water quality monitoring and develop a
management plan as required by the Regional Board. They provide a wide range of
natural resource management planning services to public agency and private
clients throughout the West.

pollutants pollutant

2 million acid mine drainage treatment
system at the Webster discharge in Nanty Glo, Cambria County.

iaea watersheds

The current discharge entering the treatment system averages a pH of 3,
which is highly acidic and does not support aquatic life. "We will be
evaluating a variety of management practices that agriculture may use in
various watersheds and geographical areas throughout the Central Valley to
protect water quality. The firm also has offices in San Francisco, San
Jose, Oakland, Los Angeles , Irvine, Temecula, San Diego, and Bakersfield,
California; Portland and Ashland, Oregon; Bellevue , Vashon, and Olympia,
Washington; Salt Lake City, Utah; and Santa Fe, New Mexico.

hydrological runoff

"
The discharge from the abandoned Webster Mine has been one of the largest
contributors of pollution in the Blacklick Creek Watershed, pouring an average
of 450 gallons per minute of highly acidic, metal- and sulfur-laden water into
Pergrin Run, which is a tributary of the South Branch Blacklick Creek.
Without new resources, the state faces at least 350 years of cleanup.

alleviate workes

The treated water
entering Pergrin Run at its confluence with the South Branch Blacklick Creek
is pH neutral, which supports aquatic life and helps to raise the overall pH
of the stream, which is badly degraded from several other major discharges
that have yet to be treated."
The reclamation project is part of Governor Edward G.

Jones + Stokes is a multidisciplinary, employee-owned environmental
consulting firm headquartered in Sacramento.

Topics may include hydrology, water supply, water distribution , water quality, wastewater, flooding, surface water (rivers, streams, and lakes), groundwater, drinking water, and water treatment technology.

waternunc watershed

"This treatment system represents major progress in the restoration of
Blacklick Creek and ultimately the Conemaugh River," DEP Deputy Secretary for
Mineral Resources Management J. Army Corps of Engineers oversaw development, design and
construction of the treatment system under the corps' Ecosystem Restoration
Program, using funding obtained by federal , state and local entities.dep.us, Keyword: "Abandoned Mines."
The State's program is designed to reduce pollution of rivers, streams and
creeks by pesticides, fertilizers, sediment, and other pollutants.

stormwater tributary

DEP contributed more than $1 million in grants and in-kind services as a
financial and technical partner to the Cambria County Conservation and
Recreation Authority (CCCRA), which was the local sponsor for the project and
will be responsible for long-term operation and maintenance of the system.
The large Bethlehem Mine 31 coal refuse pile at the confluence of Pergrin
Run and South Branch Blacklick Creek is also slated to be processed as
cogeneration fuel.
The multi-disciplinary team assembled by Jones + Stokes is composed of a
broad group of engineering and environmental consulting firms and individuals
from academia who have extensive on-the-ground experience with all aspects of
water quality, agricultural economics, runoff management and control,
hydrology , and other disciplines.

platypus pollutant

There are 8,529 acres of unreclaimed refuse piles with 258 million tons of
waste coal in Pennsylvania.

usepa watershed

The state has at least 2,000 abandoned and
flooding mine pools statewide , discharging polluted water from about 5,000
known points and threatening the health of our rivers and streams.

Jones + Stokes Selected for Central Valley 'Ag Waiver' Contract

hydrology hec

Public involvement is a crucial element in assisting the Regional Board.

hydrology gleick

Actual funding levels provided by GreenPA would be substantially
below those provided by Growing Greener II.

usepa heriot

DEP also provided Growing Greener funding to build a limestone-lined
channel to divert 1,600 feet of Pergrin Run around the Lorraine coal refuse
pile just upstream from the Webster discharge, which further improved water
quality in the stream. "We need to continue to fund
programs to address inadequate and malfunctioning sanitary sewer systems,
erosion and sedimentation controls, polluted stormwater runoff and the
thousands of mine discharges and seeps that impair the waters of this
Commonwealth.

hec pollutants

unep iaea

tributary alleviate

More than
4,000 miles of streams are impaired by polluted mine drainage.state.

waternunc hydrochemistry

runoff stormwater

The legislature has not passed the initiative .
Instead, the House of Representatives recently passed a competing plan,
GreenPA.
The effort by the state to regulate discharges from irrigated lands,
formally known as the Irrigated Lands Conditional Waiver Program, is setting a
national precedent in terms of its goals, the size of the area in question
(over 7 million acres of irrigated lands within the Central Valley) and the
number of growers involved, which is in the tens of thousands.