On 01/25/05, a 10,000-gpm "blowout" of the century-old Nickle Plate Mine (Pittsburgh coalbed) occurred in a public sidewalk about 12 miles southwest of downtown Pittsburgh, PA. The US Office of Surface Mining, first responder, installed diesel pumps and drain lines along public streets to control and convey the discharge to a nearby stream. On 02/22/05, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, Bureau of Abandoned Mine Reclamation issued a 90-day emergency contract to Environmentally Innovative Solutions, LLC to provide a permanent control. With numerous partners (federal, state, local agencies; local residents and businesses), property access, stream and mine pool water quality data, historical mine mapping, and other pertinent site information were acquired. Nine options were developed and evaluated. Paramount in design considerations was public health and safety followed by effectiveness, reliability, community and environmental impact, long-term maintenance requirements, installation cost, and aiding future work including grouting to address mine subsidence issues and treatment of the abandoned mine drainage. Piezometers and test pits were installed in city streets, private driveways, and on undeveloped property and mine pool response tests were conducted. After data evaluation, the mine pool was manipulated to discharge about ½-mile northeast of the "blowout" on undeveloped land to an AMD-degraded receiving stream. By 05/20/05, a primary gravity drain, a secondary drain, and an early warning system at the "blowout" had been completed. Subsequent monitoring confirms the facilities are functioning as designed.

Passive treatment system components containing limestone are an effective means to decrease Mn concentrations in coal mine drainage. As precipitates, sediment, vegetation, and other materials accumulate in the void spaces, permeability decreases and treatment effectiveness is reduced. Recently, the ability to recover manganese-bearing material for potential economic use while restoring treatment efficiency has been demonstrated at the De Sale Phase 2 passive treatment system, installed at an abandoned surface coal mine in western Pennsylvania. Efforts to date include pre-and post-recovery water monitoring; development of a unique "full-scale" recovery technique; preliminary physical, chemical, and mineralogical analysis; and identification of a potentially economically-viable use of the recovered material. The horizontal flow limestone bed was monitored 3, 24, 64, and 118 days after Mn recovery. Comparing the influent with the effluent indicated decreases in dissolved Mn concentrations from 64 to 30 mg/L, 55 to 10 mg/L, 46 to 9 mg/L, and 20 to 8 mg/L, respectively, essentially doubling treatment effectiveness. Over 40 cubic yards (30 cubic meters) of manganese-bearing material were recovered. Currently, the Mn material is being used by local ceramic artists as a glaze colorant and is being evaluated by other industries including brick manufacturing.

Abstract. Abandoned mine drainage is a major source of water pollution in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and other historical mining districts. Technology which utilizes no harsh chemicals and no electricity, and requires minimal maintenance known as passive treatment is being developed to address this pollution problem in a relatively cost-effective manner.

Treatment of drainage from an underground coal mine, abandoned for over 65 years, has been a focus of the Jennings Environmental Education Center (a Pennsylvania State Park) since failure of a mine seal in 1984. Early prototypes of environmentally-friendly technologies or passive treatment components have been installed and monitored since 1989. As Jennings is dedicated to environmental education at various interest levels for the general public and for students of all ages, water monitoring to demonstrate the performance of the system has been imperative. In 1997, a Vertical Flow Pond (VFP) with treatment media consisting of 272 metric tons (300 short tons) of spent mushroom compost mixed with 345 metric tons (380 short tons) [9.52 mm x 1.180 mm (3/8"x16 mesh); >90% CaCO 3 ] of limestone aggregate, a step-down (Bioswale) wetland, and an aerobic wetland/settling pond were installed to treat the acidic, metalladen, raw water which averages 76 Lpm (20 gpm), 3.0 pH, 270 mg/L acidity, 40 mg/L total iron, 15 mg/L total manganese, and 15 mg/L total aluminum. At the time of installation, the predicted optimum life of the VFP treatment media was 7 to 10 years with exhaustion in about 14 years. After over 12 years, however, the system continues to provide successful treatment with limited maintenance. The primary maintenance item has been two, approximately two-day, "stirring" events to address permeability of the treatment media. As a design schematic and analyses from over 200 water monitoring events (depending upon the component), conducted by numerous professionals, students, and volunteers, are publically available online at www.datashed.org, the passive system provides a valuable template for future designs and improvements. The final effluent of the system can be characterized as typically net alkaline with total iron, manganese, and aluminum concentrations of about 1 mg/L or less.

Abandoned underground mines in the Pittsburgh coalbed continue to be a source of pollution to over 48 km of streams in the Raccoon