Friday, October 3, 2008: 1:20 p.m.
Benny K. McCament
,
Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Affairs, Ohio University, Athens, OH
Jen R. Bowman
,
Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Affairs, Ohio University, Athens, OH
Kelly Capuzzi
,
Division of Surface Water, Ohio Environmental Protection Agency
Mitch E. Farley
,
Division of Mineral Resources Management, Ohio Department of Natural Resources
Brett Laverty
,
North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources
Acidic mine drainage (AMD) from pre-law coal mines wiped out aquatic communities in the lower 24 miles of Little Raccoon Creek in the mid 1900’s. Data collected in the1950’s by the Ohio Division of Wildlife, showed non-existent or sparse fish populations due to high levels of acidity and metals related to AMD. With the enactment of SMCRA in 1977, environmental controls on coal mining reduced additional AMD loads. However, biological data collected in 1984 and 1985 by Ohio EPA still showed highly impaired aquatic ecosystems and high acid loads. Water quality improvements began to occur in the 1990’s with AMD loads decreasing due to natural attenuation of abandoned surface mine spoil and reclamation efforts by state and federal agencies. In response, 1999 data showed aquatic organisms beginning to re-populate Little Raccoon Creek in areas where they had not existed for many decades.With the inception of the Raccoon Creek Partnership in the late 1990’s, AMD projects were implemented with the purpose of restoring the ecological integrity of Little Raccoon Creek. To date, a total of five large-scale AMD treatment projects have been implemented and acid loads have been reduced by 4,700 pounds per day. Aquatic life recovery has been most notable in the lower 13 river miles, where net-alkalinity, total iron, and total aluminum water quality criteria are met. Between river miles 18 – 24 where the majority of AMD sources originate, biological improvement has occurred but is far from attaining Ohio EPA criteria for warm-water habitat. Chemical and habitat data show high total aluminum and iron concentrations in this reach, which is likely preventing full ecological recovery through direct toxicity to organisms and by flocculents impairing substrate habitat. . Reducing metal concentrations must be an integral part of future AMD treatment projects to enhance biological communities in Little Raccoon Creek.
