Upper St. Clair Treatment Facility Purifies Mine Water Discharge
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
3 June 2010
By Don Hopey
The Allegheny Land Trust today will officially open the 80-acre
Wingfield Pines Conservation Area, containing an innovative mine water
discharge treatment facility in Upper St. Clair and South Fayette.
The treatment system, on 20 acres of the conservation area, uses five
ponds arranged like spokes in a wheel and an aeration fountain powered
by pressure from the abandoned Bridgeville Mine, closed in the early
1950s, to more effectively treat 1,200 gallons of mine water a minute.
It also removes 43 tons of iron a year from the mine drainage into
Chartiers Creek, a tributary of the Ohio River.
"Approximately 99 percent of the iron is removed from the discharge and
people standing in the middle of the wheel can see the water coming in
bright orange and then leaving crystal clear on the other side," said
Bob Hedin, of Hedin Environmental in Mt. Lebanon, who designed the
system built by Quality Aggregates Inc.
Ecological education stations and a pedestrian boardwalk through
wetlands containing native plants, birds and even a family of beavers
also are part of the new $1.2 million conservation area. Money for the
project came from local foundations, the state Department of
Conservation and Natural Resources, the state Department of
Environmental Protection's Bureau of Abandoned Mine Reclamation and the
federal Office of Surface Mining.
"The ... system was designed to provide a unique experience for the
public to visit and learn about how nature can heal one of the most
visible scars of our industrial heritage -- abandoned mine drainage,"
said Roy Kraynyk, Allegheny Land Trust executive director. "ALT is
committed to preserving lands such as Wingfield Pines that provide the
greatest public benefit -- in this case a cleaner Chartiers Creek."
At today's ceremony, scheduled from 10 a.m. to noon, U.S. Rep. Tim
Murphy, R-Upper St. Clair, will turn the main valve to symbolically
start the treatment system, which has been operating since last fall.
Wingfield Pines is located at 1550 Mayview Road in Upper St. Clair, off
the Bridgeville exit of Interstate 79. For more information about the
conservation area, visit the website www.alleghenylandtrust.org.
Don Hopey: dhopey@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1983.