(Photo of AMD plant for Blacklick Creek Watershed courtesy Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection)
Pennsylvania’s newest Acid Mine Drainage treatment plant opened yesterday in Vintondale and is expected to have a positive impact on water quality in Indiana and Cambria Counties.
The facility will control and treat three major sources of abandoned mine drainage into the Blacklick Creek Watershed. Mine water will be collected from the Wherum, Vinton Number 6 and Commercial Number 16 mines and pumped to the treatment plant, where it will undergo a process to remove dissolved metals like aluminum, iron and manganese. Those particles will settle in large concrete tanks while the clean water is discharged into the creek. The plant will be able to treat up to 7.2 million gallons of water a day and will aid in restoring about 25 miles of the creek into a viable fishing area.
On hand for yesterday’s ceremony was Pennsylvania Lt. Governor Austin Davis, and he was excited for the environmental improvement opportunities that the plant will provide.
Indiana County Commissioner Sherene Hess said that this project is good for the environment and the economy.
The project cost over $27 million, and was funded by the 2021 and 2022 Capital Budget Approved Funds, along with federal money from the Abandoned Mine Land Economic Revitalization Program and Pennsylvania’s Acid Mine Drainage 30% set-aside program. This facility is the 12th such plant in the state.
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