For more than 20 years, Agnes Wood, 607 Brew St., Tamaqua, has had problems with mine water creeping into her basement.
On Feb. 10, a pool of water with a reddish tinge at least a quarter-inch deep was polluting a section with a decorative bar that had once been a recreation room.
“I have three sump pumps down there now,” Wood, 86, said Feb. 10.
Later this month, a project supervised by state officials will attempt to divert the mine water from Wood’s property and 12 others in the area, Michael C. Korb, environmental program manager for the state Department of Environmental Protection Bureau of Abandoned Mine Reclamation, Wilkes-Barre, said Feb. 9.
After making numerous efforts to stop the flooding, Wood said she wasn’t sure if the project would work.
“We’ll have to wait and see,” Wood said.
This week, Korb and other representatives from the DEP’s Bureau of Abandoned Mine Reclamation discussed this project, called “Tamaqua North,” and other mine reclamation projects in Schuylkill County which are in development.
Tamaqua North
Mine drainage has affected the basements of 13 homes in Tamaqua.
They include: 501, 505, 513, 517, 523, 603, 605, 607 and 611 Brew St.; 529 and 533 Schuylkill Ave.; and 217 and 221 E. Elm St., John J. Curley, civil engineer manager general with DEP’s Bureau of Abandoned Mine Reclamation, said Feb. 9.
Joseph Thomas, 76, moved to 602 Brew St. in 1999. And he quickly realized he had a drainage problem in the basement.
“It’s just coming out of the ground. When we get a heavy rain, it will shoot out of the wall like a spigot. Everything’s all rusted down here. And every day, I’m mopping,” Thomas said Feb. 10 as he examined red-tinted streams discoloring the bottom of his basement door.
He had to set up a plank to walk from his basement floor to the steps so he wouldn’t get his feet wet.
“Since I moved here, it’s been a pain. I replaced my plumbing from the house out. I had all new plumbing in the basement up to the first floor. And six weeks later, the plumbing was blocked. I even had two troughs put in to catch the mine water, but they block up,” Thomas said.
Thomas complained to local and state officials over the years and is relieved to see an effort to stop the mine water is being made.
To eliminate the public health and safety hazard, the mine drainage will be collected via perforated pipes to a series of street storm drainage inlets and pipes to the river. Construction on the “Tamaqua North” project will begin this month, Curley said.
On Feb. 2 at Tamaqua Borough Hall, DEP officials met with the contractor hired to complete project, T. Brennan Heavy Equipment LLC, Carbondale. The contract price is for $592,647.50, Curley said.
“Construction is starting this month to eliminate a public health and safety hazard by controlling mine drainage affecting the basements of thirteen homes along Brew Street, Schuylkill Avenue and East Elm Street. The mine drainage will be collected via perforated pipes to a series of street storm drainage inlets and pipes to the river. Outfall pipes will be installed at two locations to convey the mine drainage and storm drainage to the river. Over 2,100 feet of pipe and 10 inlets will be installed as part of this project,” Curley said.
“Hopefully it works out,” Thomas said.
Palo Alto North
For years, mine drainage from Sharp Mountain has caused problems for homeowners in the Borough of Palo Alto.
For example, from 2005 until 2011, there were problems in the 300 block of West Savory Street. And in 2011, the state provided a temporary solution by installing a pipe that carried mine water from the mountain into the authority’s sewer system.
In 2013, state officials pitched ideas for a more effective solution.
“For the longest time, we couldn’t figure out what the problem was, where the water was coming from. Turns out there’s a tunnel back in the mountain someplace. We didn’t have any kind of mapping for it or anything,” Korb said Feb. 9.
Tetra Tech, an environmental consulting firm based in Dallas, Luzerne County, has been developing this abandoned mine reclamation project with DEP.
The plan is to dig tunnels in Palo Alto to drain mine water from Sharp Mountain into the Schuylkill River.
“That project is called Palo Alto North,” Korb said.
“And it’s still in the design phase,” Curley said.
On the morning of Feb. 9, Curley and Korb visited Palo Alto with Gregg Davis, a design engineer with DEP’s Bureau of Abandoned Mine Reclamation, to talk about the project.
Curley offered a brief description:
“To collect and convey mine drainage from a mine tunnel that is blocked and joining the new system to an existing pipe outfall to the Schuylkill River. The project will include a jack and bore method to intersect the tunnel beyond the blockage, install casing pipe and drain the tunnel to a point within the recreational park located off West Bacon Street. From this location, new conduit and manhole will be installed to convey the water beneath West Bacon Street to a combined sanitary and storm drainage overflow pipe behind the Palo Alto fire department,” Curley said, referring to Citizens Fire Company No. 1.
“We’re going to bore a hole from the bottom of the hill into the tunnel,” Korb said.
That drilling will occur at the playground on the 300 block of West Bacon Street, he said.
“It’s going to bore from the park into the old mine tunnel and intercept the water and from there we’re going to pipe it down behind here,” Davis said while standing in the rear parking lot of Citizens Fire Company No. 1.
Before the project can move forward, the state has to acquire eight easements. And Korb said they’ve got all but one. It’s 315 W. Bacon St., a 1.57-acre tract owned by the Joseph Walacavage Martial Trust.
“It’s owned by an estate,” Korb said.
“There’s been negotiations for at least six months,” Curley said.
“And we may never have it. That’s a realistic scenario,” Korb said.
Once all easements are secured, the state has to present a proposal to the borough council.
“They have been here several times addressing the residents’ concerns with the council. We haven’t gotten the final plan yet. So we haven’t signed off on anything. We haven’t had any questions that they weren’t able to answer so far. We just have to wait until the design is done and go from there,” Joan Stevenosky, president of borough council, said Feb. 8.
“There’s no additional approvals that we need from the borough, except that they have to accept the easements. The easements are going to be in their name,” Korb said.
If the borough council does not accept that, the project cannot go forward. And if the project gets the green light, it will be paid for primarily with federal funds, Korb said.
“I don’t anticipate it will cost the borough anything, but they will be responsible for the maintenance of it,” Korb said.
Other projects
Curley provided insights to other reclamation projects in Schuylkill County:
• Sharp Mountain West, near Tremont
Earthmovers Unlimited Inc. has been hired to do the work. The project will cost $1,138,423, and it’s under construction, Curley said.
“The project involves the backfilling and grading of 5,800 feet of dangerous high wall with depths ranging from 25 to 50 feet. This project will reclaim 60 acres of abandoned strip mine land by grading approximately 374,000 cubic yards of on-site material. Three new wetlands will be constructed and planted with wetland seedlings and existing ones will be enhanced. Three dangerous crop falls will be fenced in. Ditches will be constructed and lined with jute matting and tied concrete blocks to convey storm water and the site will be seeded with a mixture of grass, legumes and tree species,” Curley said.
• Heckscherville South
“To be bid in March. The project will involve the backfilling the two mine openings with approximately 750 cubic yards of on-site material. One mine opening is approximately about 50-foot deep and the other is about 8-foot deep. This project will reclaim approximately one acre of abandoned strip mine land,” Curley said.
• Red Mountain Southwest, Swatara Creek, near Tremont
“In design. The project involves the backfilling and grading of 450 feet of dangerous high walls ranging in depth from six to 30 feet, as well as the removal of dangerous piles and embankments as high as 50 feet. It will reclaim 45 acres of abandoned strip mine land by grading the project area will be seeded with a mixture of grass,” Curley said.
• Lost Creek, West Mahanoy Township, near Girardville
“In design. The project will involve repairing an acid mine drainage issue. The project will involve repairing existing drainage structures and improving drainage of water that discharges from an underground mine pool,” Curley said.
Funding
This year, the federal Abandoned Mine Land Fund provided a $42,982,188 grant to Pennsylvania for mine reclamation projects, Korb said.
“The Abandoned Mine Land Fund provides funding for state and tribal AML programs to correct environmental damage from past mining, such as reclaiming unstable slopes, improving water quality by treating acid mine drainage, and restoring water supplies damaged by mining, among other things. States and tribes receive grant allocations according to a congressionally mandated formula established by the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act,” Korb said.
He wasn’t sure how much of that will be coming into Schuylkill County.
“We don’t budget how much goes where at any point, and often have a backlog of designed projects. It is hard to forecast which projects will be ready for bid in any year. The design process can run into problems. There can be permitting or environmental reasons. A project can be delayed, or funding might have to go to higher priority or emergency projects,” Korb said.