ACIDIC-MINE-DRAINAGE PROJECTS IN PENNSYLVANIA
Submitted by Chuck Cravotta

PA234: Allegheny-Monongahela National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA)

Problem: A consistent description of the Nation's water resources, that assesses regional and local factors affecting water-quality conditions and trends, is needed by policy makers and managers. In the Allegheny-Monongahela River Basin, which includes the headwaters of the Ohio River Basin in western Pennsylvania, the quality of many river reaches, tributaries, and ground-water supplies is degraded by acidic mine drainage (AMD), oil- and gas-well discharges, combined stormwater-sewer overflows, sediment loading, agricultural runoff, and urban-industrial discharges. AMD from abandoned bituminous coal mines is the most extensive cause of degraded surface-water and ground-water quality.

Collaborators: Funding is provided the USGS-Water Resources Division (WRD) Federal Program. The USGS-WRD is communicating and coordinating activities through a local liaison committee consisting of interested scientists and water-resources managers from Federal, State, and local agencies and universities.

Activities: In 1994, the Allegheny-Monongahela River Basin was selected to begin assessment activities as a NAWQA study unit. The Allegheny-Monongahela NAWQA will assess several water-quality issues, including the effects of natural hydrological, geological, and biological factors and anthropogenic activities on water quality. In June 1994, the liaison committee was formed and convened to plan or conduct the following activities: exchange information about water-quality issues of regional and local interest, identify sources of data and information, assist in the design and scope of project products, and review project-planning documents and reports. In 1996, an intensive 3-year data-collection effort will begin. Water-quality and aquatic-biology data will be collected frequently at 8 to12 streams to evaluate seasonal conditions and trends and at several other sites to assess effects of AMD during selected hydrologic conditions. Ground-water-quality data will be collected on a spatially distributed basis to include effects from geological and land-use variations, including mining. Currently, an evaluation is underway to describe trends in water quality and aquatic biology for several streams affected by AMD.

Project Chief: Steve McAuley (tel.: 412-644-2707).