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ASSESSMENT OF ACIDIC DRAINAGE FROM ABANDONED COAL MINES NEAR HUNTSVILLE, MISSOURI PROJECT - G03-NPS-08
Sugar Creek lies just north of Huntsville, Missouri. Underground coal mining in and near Huntsville, in north central Missouri began soon after 1831. Mining in the region was at its peak during 1903 and continued until 1966 when the last underground mine was closed and the economically recoverable coal under Huntsville had been mostly, if not completely, removed. Drainage from the now abandoned mines acidifies Sugar Creek and other receiving streams in and near Huntsville. Sugar Creek is currently listed on Missouri's 1998 303(d) list as an impaired stream. Efforts to remediate or minimize the effects of mine drainage on Sugar Creek, its tributaries and an unnamed stream that flows through the middle of Huntsville are being considered by the Missouri Land Reclamation Commission, Missouri WPCP and the Office of Surface Mining (OSM). However, before remediation activities can be undertaken, an assessment of the hydrologic and geochemical character of mine drainage sources and receiving streams must be completed in order to identify and evaluate appropriate treatment options.
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
A valuable amount of historic hydrological and water quality data are available for some mine springs and tributaries of Sugar Creek and other streams and mine springs in and around Huntsville from various sources. These data indicate that three sources contribute the vast majority of acidic underground mine drainage in the study area. However, large parts of the Sugar Creek basin have not been assessed, sampled or characterized. The selection of appropriate treatment options for mine drainage requires matching the hydrologic and geochemical character of mine drainage with the capabilities and limitations of various treatments.
The study area for this assessment includes the entire Sugar Creek watershed downstream of Sugar Creek Lake and MW1 that flows through the middle of Huntsville. The water quality and discharges of all mine drainage sources and receiving streams will be identified, sampled and measured. This assessment will be used to identify sources with the greatest need for remediation, help locate potential treatment sites and determine the geochemical requirements of various treatment options. Trend analysis and statistical significance testing will also be used to identify changes in water chemistry and will be factored into an evaluation of treatment options.
Specialists from the department and the OSM will use the information obtained from this assessment to determine the economical and logistical feasibility of geochemically viable options as well as provide information, advice and consultations on the performance of conventional treatment options in other areas. The results of this study will be published as a USGS Water Resources Investigation Report. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) will be responsible for the hydrologic and geochemical assessments of mine drainage and receiving streams as well as the geochemical assessment of potential treatment options. OSM will be responsible for the economic and logistical feasibility of treatment options.
OBJECTIVES
1. Identify, measure and characterize the water quality and flow rates of all sources of mine drainage in the Sugar Creek watershed and mine spring (delineated as MW1).
2. Determine the effects of each mine drainage source on the quality of water in Sugar Creek and of MW1 on its unnamed receiving stream.
3. Use available historical data to identify trends or changes in water quality that may have occurred over the last 2 to 15 years.
4. Evaluate and identify passive treatment options that would be geochemically appropriate and physically possible to construct for mine drainage in Sugar Creek and MW1 in Huntsville.
5. Determine the potential of effluent from city sewage lagoons and in-situ carbonate additions to counteract acidity, high iron and high sulfate concentrations.
METHODS EMPLOYED
1. The water quality and discharges of all mine drainage sources and receiving streams will be identified, sampled and measured during two synoptic sampling/reconnaissance trips that will correspond with periods of seasonal high and low baseflows.
2. The location of each mine-drainage source will be determined with a portable Global Positioning System unit, a flow measurement made, a sample will be collected and field measurements of pH, temperature, specific conductance, dissolved oxygen and redox potential will be made where flow is large enough. The same set of data will be collected at receiving stream sites just above and below mine-drainage inputs, at the confluence of tributaries, just below Sugar Creek Lake, sites with historic data, effluents from two sewage lagoons and other major changes in discharge. Analysis data will be compiled and chemical loads from each mine source and at each receiving stream site will be used to quantify the impacts of each source on receiving streams. This assessment will be used to identify sources with the greatest need for remediation, help locate potential treatment sites and determine the geochemical requirements of various treatment options.
3. New hydrochemical data will be statistically compared with historical data to determine whether the geochemical character of mine drainage sources has changed significantly or substantially over the past 10 to 15 years. Trend analysis and statistical significance testing will be used to make these determinations and any detected changes in water chemistry will be factored into an evaluation of treatment options.
4. Opportunities for passive treatment of mine drainage will be assessed and geochemically evaluated. The geochemical and hydrologic requirements and limitations of various treatment options will be compared with the hydrochemical character of individual and groups of mine drainage sources to identify practical and efficient options.
5. Laboratory mixing experiments and geochemical modeling will be used to verify the performance expectations of proposed nonconventional treatments.
6. Technical specialists from the department and the OSM will use the information obtained in the assessment to determine the economical and logistical feasibility of geochemically viable options as well as provide information, advice and consultations on the performance of conventional treatment options in other areas.
PRODUCTS
USGS Water Resources Investigation Report
PROJECT SPONSOR
Missouri Department of Natural Resources
Air and Land Protection Division
Land Reclamation Program
COOPERATING AGENCIES
U.S. Office of Surface Mining
U.S. Geological Survey
CONTACT
Dennis Stinson, Reclamation Section Chief
Land Reclamation Program
Missouri Department of Natural Resources
573--751-4041
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