Conference Agenda

Overview and details of the sessions of this Conference. Please select a date or location to show only sessions at that day or location. Please select a single session for a detailed view (with abstracts and downloads if available). The programme is preliminary and subject to change!

Please note that all times are shown in the time zone of the conference. The current conference time is: 31st Oct 2024, 07:54:44pm EDT

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Session Overview
Session
Stream Renewal and Treatment
Time:
Monday, 22/Apr/2024:
1:15pm - 2:30pm

Session Chair: Ben B Faulkner
Session Chair: Gene Tiff Hilton
Location: Salon D


1. First speaker: 1:15-1:40
2. Second speaker: 1:40-2:05
3. Third speaker: 2:05-2:30

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Presentations

A watershed-based NPDES approach to AMD treatment in Muddy Creek, Cheat River, West Virginia, USA

Gregory Willard Phillips

West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection, United States of America

For decades, the Lower Muddy Creek drainage was impaired by Acid Mine Drainage (AMD) emanating from Surface Mine Control Reclamation Act (SMCRA) pre- (Title 4) and post- (Title 5) law mine discharges. Muddy Creek contributed one half of the acid load to the Cheat River Watershed. In 2016 after legislative revisions to the State’s water quality standards (West Virginia Legislative rule 47CSR2), WV Department of Environmental Protection (WVDEP) received approval from the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for a Watershed-Based NPDES approach in June 2017. The first ever in-stream NPDES permit in the United States was issued to WVDEP Office of Special Reclamation (OSR) at the mouth of Martin Creek. The project has resulted in the treatment of all AMD discharges in the Muddy Creek Watershed. In 2018, the OSR completed construction of a High-Density Lime Slurry System capable for treating 4,200 gal/min (16 m³/min) of AMD. The Muddy Creek AMD Plant utilizes lime slurry solution to neutralize AMD. The plant includes a 100-ton lime silo, two 80-ft (24-m) clarifiers, polymer injection, sludge disposal all controlled by a state-of-the-art computer control system. The plant treats all discharges from the T & T Mine as well as two pre-law and five post-law AMD treatment sources. Those upstream sources are conveyed through a pipeline to the Muddy Creek plant. There is also a similar High-Density Lime Slurry System in Glade Run and a Pelletized Lime Dosing unit near the headwaters of Martin Creek. Both dispense lime slurry or pelletized lime directly into the stream. The Muddy Creek AMD Plant and the two in-stream dosers have restored the 3.4 mil (5.47 km) of Lower Muddy Creek and removed one half of the acid load to the Cheat River Watershed. Before treatment, in 2015, results from an electro-shock fish survey near the mouth of Muddy Creek showed no fish. In 2019, after treatment had begun, a survey detected 143 fish of nine different species. Median pH values increased from 4.3 to 7.3 following treatment. Since June 2018, Muddy Creek has been net alkaline. Median aluminum and iron concentrations decreased from 10 and 9 mg/L, respectively, to 1 mg/L. The median discharge of acidity into the Cheat River decreased from 11,800 lb (5,352 kg) to 1,100 lb/d (498 kg/d) calcium carbonate equivalent. This methodology could be applied to other AMD streams, thereby restoring miles of impaired streams and improving multiple watersheds throughout the United States.



The engineering of truly passive mine water treatment systems using recycled concrete aggregate

Adrian Brown

Adrian Brown Consultants, Inc., United States of America

Treatment of acidic and metalliferous drainage (AMD) from mines using globally available recycled concrete aggregate (RCA) is passive, simple, long-term, cheap, and sustainable. RCA contains up to 20% by weight alkaline calcium minerals, mainly portlandite (Ca(OH)2) and calcite (CaCO3), which are available by dissolution and diffusion from the concrete particle matrix to treat metal-containing water that contacts it. Testing has demonstrated that RCA can remove >95% of dissolved metals of concern (including antimony, arsenic, cadmium, copper, iron, mercury, manganese, nickel, lead, and zinc from AMD by slowly passing it through a large bed of crushed concrete particles and generally has no waste products.

However, to date the actual application of this technology in the field has been largely unsuccessful, due to limited performance. A five-year evaluation of this technology has been conducted by the author to identify the reasons why the promise of this sustainable material for AMD treatment has not yet been realized. This research shows that the reasons include: 1) the AMD has been passed through the RCA too rapidly to allow dissolution and diffusion mechanisms to release sufficient alkalinity and absorb sufficient metals to allow the treatment to work; 2) the particle size of the RCA has in general been too large to provide enough surface area for sufficient release of alkalinity to provide the desired AMD treatment; and 3) hydraulics of the treatment systems are too complex and too active for reliable treatment performance.

The research quantifies the requirements for successful site-specific long-term passive RCA treatment systems: 1) Small RCA particle size to allow the timed-release of alkalinity from the RCA, which is in the order of 5-10 mm; 2) Large RCA void volume to allow AMD retention required for treatment and filtration, which is in the order of 1 to 15 days for this particle size; and 3) sufficiently simple upflow treatment hydraulics, ideally without pumps or pipes.

This paper provides the support for these guidelines, and sets out instructions for successfully testing, designing, and engineering a truly passive, long-term, and sustainable AMD treatment system at any site using RCA as the treatment, sequestration, and filtration medium.



Beyond reclamation and remediation, next steps in a recovered watershed

Amy Mackey, Nora Sullivan, Natalie A Kruse Daniels, Jennifer Bowman

Ohio University, United States of America

Raccoon Creek Watershed is 684 square miles of land in southern Ohio that flows directly to the Ohio River. The watershed encompasses land from six counties and contains approximately 50,000 acres of abandoned underground and surface mines. In the 1990s, the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (OEPA) designated the watershed as Limited Resource Water, suggesting that the watershed could not recover. Despite this, since the late 1990’s over 20 million dollars have been invested in the watershed reclamation and treatment. These projects have included land reclamation, steel slag leach beds, a lime doser, wetland systems, and a vertical flow reactor.

Ohio University has partnered with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) and OEPA to monitor the watershed for water quality, aquatic biology, and habitat for over two decades, but a comprehensive evaluation through OEPA’s Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) program. A TMDL study was performed by OEPA in 2017 and 2018. This assessment included chemical monitoring, fish and aquatic macroinvertebrate assessment, and habitat assessment. These data were then analyzed to suggest an update to the aquatic use designation (i.e. Limited Resource Water) after extensive treatment.

The TMDL study showed a improvement in all metrics and led to re-designation of the stream based on these updated data. The mainstem from the headwaters of Raccoon Creek at river mile 110 to river mile 40 in the town of Vinton have been re-designated as Warm Water Habitat, indicative of conditions in the 25%-75% of all sites in Ohio. The stream from river mile 40 to the backwaters of the Ohio River have been re-designated as Exceptional Warm Water Habitat, which is assigned to sites in the top 25% of all sites in Ohio. The transition between Warm Water Habitat and Exceptional Warm Water habitat is a low head dam that restricts fish passage. It is unheard of for streams to move from Limited Resource Water to Exceptional Warm Water Habitat.

This redesignation is a true reflection of watershed-scale approaches to treatment and reclamation and prioritization of projects. This has opened new opportunities for the watershed. The watershed improvement allows for growth in recreational opportunities. Watershed leaders are now pursuing Scenic River designation; there is currently no river in southeast Ohio that has earned this designation. Geographic analysis suggests that much of the mainstem and Little Raccoon Creek would meet criteria for Wilder, Scenic, or Recreational River status set by the State of Ohio.



 
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