Abrupt mine discharge pollutes trout stream near Thomas Mills
The sudden, storm-driven blowout occurred near Thomas Mills, sending a wave of iron-laden mine water into a section of Bens Creek's south branch that is designated as a Class A Wild Trout stream, Somerset Conservation District Manager Len Lichvar said.
'We don't want to see something like this anywhere – but certainly not on a section of the creek known for naturally reproducing brown trout,' said Lichvar, who has spent his career working to restore local waterways.
A few hundred thousand gallons per minute of the polluted water were flowing into the creek during peak flows, he estimated.
A heavy storm and a long-abandoned mine are to blame.
It's common for mine water to rise inside the onetime Jerome Hill No. 1 mine when it rains. But on Thursday, the pressure got so great that the flow carved a new path, erupting from the side of the hillside, Lichvar said.
The flow ran over Jerome Hill Road and poured into Bens Creek.
'Basically,' Lichvar said, 'there was nowhere else for that water to go.'
He credited fellow founding Stonycreek River Improvement Project member Joe Gorden for spotting the mess and contacting the Somerset Conservation District
Lichvar said he, in turn, dialed the Department of Environmental Protection's emergency line, and notified Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission and Somerset County 911 officials.
By the time the discharge slowed, it damaged a nearby property owner's driveway and left a foot-high blanket of 'iron sludge' on Jerome Hill Road, Lichvar said.
Somerset County Emergency Management Director Joel Landis said the road was temporarily closed to traffic.
But the debris was cleared by state workers by Thursday evening, enabling the road to reopen.
Test results confirmed that the mine flow was 'extremely acidic,' with a pH level of 2.9, Lichvar said.
Sudden discharges aren't rare in a region with a rich mining past and many of Pennsylvania's abandoned mines.
Lichvar said it's fortunate there were no early signs of fish killed and local officials will continue to monitor the situation.
The DEP is looking at options to add piping to mitigate the discharge alongside the hill, Lichvar said.
But he plans to pitch a proposal to redirect the discharge to a treatment system that just happens to be a few hundred feet upstream.
The Rock Tunnel system was designed to treat acidic mine water and the conservation district was already looking at ways to reduce smaller discharge flows from Jerome Hill.
Lichvar said he was hopeful a new stream of Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funds designed for mine reclamation work could be secured to start the project – 'but Mother Nature beat us to the punch.'
'We were worried something like this could happen,' he said. 'But maybe if we can work out a way to treat this water, we may be able to turn this negative situation into a positive one.'
With drier weather conditions Saturday morning, the discharge had slowed considerably.
Lichvar said local anglers can continue fishing the waterway, he added.
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