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CATAWISSA CREEK MINE DRAINAGE ABATEMENT PROJECT
Citation:
Miorin, A., R. Klingensmith, F. Knight, R. Heizer, AND J. Saliunas. CATAWISSA CREEK MINE DRAINAGE ABATEMENT PROJECT. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C., EPA/600/7-77/124.
Description:
The objective of this study was to determine the feasibility of flooding underground coal mine workings in an isolated basin of coal, thereby restoring or partially restoring the groundwater table in the basin and reducing the production of acid mine drainage. Flooding the mined seams would prevent atmospheric oxygen contact with the acid-forming materials, thus breaking the chain of chemical reactions in the formation of acid mine drainage. To enable this determination, a relatively small discrete basin of coal in east central Pennsylvania at Sheppton was selected. As the first step, the watershed's streambed was relocated to prevent streamflow from passing into, and emitting from, the mined basin. Approximately 518 meters of streambed was reconstructed at a cost of $58.94 per meter, eliminating 0.253 cu m/s of water from entering the underground mine workings. Even though the mine sealing was deemed to have much merit, it was cancelled because of its high costs after plans and specifications for sealing the three tunnels were prepared and bids were taken for sealing one water-level tunnel. Bid cost for constructing the one seal was in excess of $600,000.