Watershed group works to protect the environment
MELCROFT – Mountain Watershed Association executive director Beverly Braverman has worked hard over the past eight years to ensure that her little corner of the world is environmentally safe. The Mountain Watershed Association was formed in 1994 to aid and inform property owners and residents in the mountain area of the damage done to the environment before environmental regulations were developed to prevent pollution. The group is dedicated to the preservation and conservation of the Indian Creek Valley Watershed.
The MWA is a non-profit organization, with about 220 members made up of local residents and business owners who are concerned about water quality, the health and safety of the community and the preservation of the mountain environment.
Braverman, who has lived in the mountain for 22 years, is originally from the Monroeville/Pittsburgh area. She is a non-practicing attorney who received her law degree from the University of Pittsburgh law school.
According to Braverman, the problem the association faces is the damage done to the Indian Creek Valley and surrounding areas by coal mining.
“For 150 years, the Indian Creek Valley and surrounding area’s resources have been extracted without regard to the consequences,” said Braverman. “The damage caused by over 55 surface mines and numerous deep mines has resulted in acid mine drainage ruining homes, springs, wells and properties.”
Braverman said much of the damages from mining occurred before environmental regulations were developed to prevent pollution. She also said that, even with regulations in place, some problems have continued to develop because companies that went bankrupt and/or forfeited bonds left the land in environmentally bad condition.
“Poplar Run is one of those areas,” said Braverman. “It has a dangerously high aluminum content resulting from previous surface mining on Newmyer Run. Kalp is another site. The Kalp opening discharges 300 to 800 gallons per minute of acid mine drainage, which has collected in an unsightly swamp at Romney, which then drains into Indian Creek.”
Braverman said the Gallentine opening discharges 40 to 50 gallons per minute into Indian Creek and further “poisons the water.” Additionally, a large flooded underground mine above Melcroft is leaking acid mine waters into basements of homes in Melcroft and into Champion Creek.
Braverman said people who live in an area where underground mining occurred take the risk of losing their home when support pillars decay and sink holes and subsidence occur and cause homes to cave in or split apart.
“Each year, millions of dollars in damage to homes, properties and other structures results from mine subsidence,” said Braverman. “If you live in an area where underground mining occurred, chances are that your home has been built over an abandoned deep mine.”
Braverman said homes, properties and roads have already subsided in White, Connellsville, Mount Pleasant and other surrounding areas.
“If people are not sure if their home is built over a deep mine, they can check with us because we have maps of deep mine locations,” said Braverman. “The association also has applications for mine subsidence insurance for anyone who is interested.”
Braverman said the solutions to the problems are for citizens to cooperate with organizations such as the Watershed Association that help to inform the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and elected officials of the need to clean up the polluted waters of the area.
“We have already seen results at the Sagamore mine, when the first abandoned mine drainage treatment site in the Indian Creek Watershed was officially dedicated in October following three years of construction,” said Braverman.
Work on the Sagamore (Max B. Nobel) Mine Drainage Remediation Project began in 1999 when Nobel’s children, Carol Nobel Hirsh and Sanford Nobel, donated the site for treatment in which 70,000 cubic yards of mine refuse were removed from Indian Creek.
The $400,000 project required the collection and treatment of two underground mine discharges from the abandoned Sagamore Coal Co.’s Big Chief mine and the relocation and reclamation of a large coal refuse/gob pile.
Funding for the project was provided in part by the DEP, the Western Pennsylvania Watershed Protection Program, the Baltimore Life Companies, the Eberly Foundation, Joseph and Anna Gartner Foundation, Allegheny Power, Alice Losey Meadow and the Environmental Protection Agency.
Braverman said the Sagamore site is important to the region because it is one of only a few sites in the state to use windmills to increase aeration in the settling ponds to allow more effective removal of metals from the water.
Other sites under construction are Melcroft No. 3, Gallentine and Permapress. Rondell-Correal is in the design phase and the Watershed Association is working with township supervisors on the Buck Run site.
Braverman said that out of 11 projects, there is activity at eight. “Ten of the of the proposed 11 sites will treat 94 percent of the acid loading, 90 percent of the iron loading and 93 percent of the aluminum loading,” said Braverman. “This reduction in pollutant loading will allow the return of aquatic life and a trout fishery.”
Braverman said additional benefits from an improved trout fishery are aesthetics, reduced public health and safety hazards, reduced road maintenance costs and enhanced recreation opportunities.
Braverman said basement flooding caused by acid mine drainage may be reduced in several homes at one site. She also said that the work should also increase land values and increase wildlife habitat for geese, ducks, turkeys and other small game.
“The project reduces water treatment costs for domestic water supplies and improves water quality for other users downstream,” she said. “The benefit/cost ratio is for every $1 we spend to clean up the environment, we should receive $2.4 in tourism dollars.”
The Mountain Watershed Association recently elected officers. Lisa Smith of Stahlstown was elected president, while Jerry Gearhart and Bruce Shaffer, both of Acme, were elected vice presidents.
Bethany Miller of Pletcher Road, White, was named secretary; Tom Grote of Windber was named treasurer; and Jim D’Angelis of Bottom Road, Mill Run, was named assistant treasurer.
Other members of the board of directors are Robert Adams of Acme, Alta Dezort of Normalville, Al Ferens of Acme, Bill Gdosky of Melcroft, Ken Gfroerer of Stahlstown, Gregg Grimm of Normalville and Alonzo Kalp of Champion.
Additional members are Mark Killar of Mount Pleasant, Adeline Leiohliter of Mount Pleasant, Ralph Lininger of Mill Run, Ross Miner of Mill Run, Patty Paul of Mount Pleasant, Jan Show of Mill Run, Jess Stairs of Acme and Tommy Stull of Jones Mills.
For more information of the MWA, call the office at 724-455-4200.