Pennsylvania is getting unprecedented amounts of federal money to clean up old coal mines. Last year, the state got more than $244 million through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, and up to a third of it can go toward cleaning up the state’s streams.
Mine pollution in a little-known, Pittsburgh-area stream
In a wooded area, Emilie Rzotkiewicz leaned over a small bridge looking down at Chalfant Run, a stream with a milky-white color.
“Essentially aluminum has settled down on the bottom of the stream, and you’re seeing that reflection of the white back up,” she said.
Rzotkiewicz is chief operating officer of the Allegheny Land Trust, which bought the former Churchill Country Club and its golf course in 2021. Now it’s turning the 151 acres into a conservation area that’s open to the public.
Chalfant Run winds through the property. The aluminum isn’t dangerous for people, according to Rzotkiewicz. But it’s not good for macroinvertebrates and other aquatic life.
“I’ve let my kids play in here,” she said. “But they don’t find that much. There’s no crayfish to find. There’s no interesting things to look at because it’s a relatively dead stream.”
The aluminum in the water comes from old coal mines.
The Allegheny Land Trust is working to remove it and revive the stream with a $2.7 million state grant that comes from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
Acid mine drainage stems from the “headwaters”
On another part of the property, Rzotkiewicz pointed to where water is running over a small, low dam, built by the Allegheny Land Trust so they can test the pH and how fast the water is flowing.
The water looks gray and foamy, and a plastic bag sits in the muck. She’s seen a basketball and other trash here, at what she calls “the headwaters” — the source of the stream.
“Often when you think about headwaters, you think of a beautiful seep that might be up in the mountains. This headwaters is not pristine or really beautiful,” she said.