Sep 24, 2006 By Joyce Koballa 3 min read

MELCROFT – The final phase of remediation to the largest of eight major acid mine discharge areas in the Indian Creek Watershed will be marked by a groundbreaking ceremony Monday at the Saltlick Township Municipal building attended by state and local officials. Construction on the $2 million project at the Anna and Steve Gdosky Indian Creek Restoration Project, also known as the Kalp discharge cleanup site, is now under way, according to Beverly Braverman, executive director of the Mountain Watershed Association (MWA).

Braverman said once the treatment system is completed it will remove 40 percent of the mine drainage currently entering Indian Creek.

“A commitment of over $3 million in federal, state and private funds has been put toward this project through the years, from assessing the watershed to prioritizing projects, drilling into the mine, drawing down the mine pool, to the design and now the construction,” said Braverman.

The project is being funded with a $1.66 million grant issued by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection Bureau of Abandoned Mine Reclamation through a Growing Greener grant, along with $519,730 from the United States Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service.

For the MWA, the project goal remains clear: to one day have the acidity removed from the mountain streams.

The MWA formed in 1994 as a nonprofit group concerned with the preservation and remediation of the Indian Creek Watershed from Jones Mills in Westmoreland County to the Youghiogheny River in Fayette County.

The group began tackling acid mine drainage problems after residents became aware of the seriousness of the “red” water when it invaded their homes, yards, agricultural fields and springs, and after learning more about the levels of aluminum in streams and ponds where local children swam.

The purpose of the MWA is to bring about remediation to the numerous acid mine drainages accumulated from 125 years of mining in the watershed.

Braverman said the first phase of the Kalp project involved lowering the mine pool by using an innovative technology called in-seam directional drilling, whereby the current discharge would be relocated to an area close to the proposed treatment systems.

In 2005, Braverman said holes were drilled to capture the mine water and valves were installed to adjust the flow that gradually removed 30 feet of the mine pool at Kalp.

The second and final phase of the project will entail constructing a permanent treatment system that will be completed by Stoy Excavating of Somerset.

“This project is no longer a dream … it’s a reality,” said Braverman.