October 14, 2001
Tribune-Review
Group seeks walkers to explore watersheds
Taking the walk
Those interested in the Nov. 3 stream walk training for the Redstone Creek
watershed can call John Piwowar at: 724-437-0703; or e-mail him at vmdairy@usaor.net
By Jerry Storey
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
The Greater Redstone Clearwater Initiative is seeking volunteers to take a stream walk.
The visual once-over is the latest phase in the group's efforts to identify and eventually clean up sources of pollution in the important watersheds that flow through 13 Fayette County municipalities, starting in North Union Township and emptying into the Monongahela River near Brownsville.
The watershed drainage area of the Redstone and Little Redstone creeks, Downers Run, and their tributaries, spreads out over 123 miles. While the stream walk will emphasize certain priority segments, the group hopes to cover as much ground as possible.
"The number of volunteers will determine how much area we can cover," said Swati Thomas, an environmental specialist for Skelly and Loy Engineers, the group's consultant.
The grassroots organization made up of residents, federal, state and local officials and environmentalists, has already sampled the water quality in the watershed, finding both mine drainage at selected points and widespread pollution from sewage.
A training session scheduled for Nov. 3 will teach volunteers what to look for as they scan the watersheds. They will also be taught how to fill out forms, read maps and use global positioning instruments. Field days will then be scheduled for subsequent stream walks.
Thomas said autumn was chosen to explore the watersheds because it's "better to see after the leaves fall off."
John Piwowar, a Fayette County farmer who is president of the Clearwater Initiative, said the volunteer effort should appeal to people who like the outdoors and walking through pristine countryside.
It should also appeal to those who want to make a difference. Piwowar said the state's Growing Greener grants are available for the type of technical assistance Skelly and Loy provides and even for some future remediation work, but that the group depends on volunteers "to do the groundwork."
Kelly Kruper, who teaches a watershed course and advises the ecology club at Laurel Highlands High School, has been active in the Clearwater Initiative, and some of her students have signed up for the stream walk. They are already old hands in the Redstone Creek, having participated in two cleanups of portions of the stream in North Union Township.
"They're just involved. It's a passion of mine and they've gotten into it; they're genuinely interested," Kruper said.
Fayette County Conservation District watershed coordinator Heather Fowler and representatives from the Pennsylvania Conservancy Watershed Assistance Center, and the Western Pennsylvania Coalition for Abandoned Mine Reclamation, as well as the Department of Environmental Protection, are also volunteering for the effort.
In addition to the distinctive orange hue of acid mine drainage, the volunteers will be looking for such things as garbage in the waterway and stream bank erosion. In addition to theri eyesight, the volunteer's sense of smell will also come into play tracking sewage discharges, Thomas said.
There have been similar stream walks at the Broadtop watershed in Bedford County and Aultman Run in Indiana County, according to the environmental specialist.
One pollution source that is hard to miss is the mine drainage near Phillips, North Union Township, that may be the combined flow from several abandoned mines that had been connected with tunnels.
Piwowar said the iron pyrite may one day be separated from the tainted flow for commercial use as a pigment. He pointed out that the prospects for treating the Phillips' discharge were good because it is more alkaline than acidic with a near neutral pH rating, and no other heavy metals in the flow.
About 1,000 tons of the pyrite has already been recovered from the Sewickley Creek watershed near the community of Lowber in Westmoreland County, according to Bob Hedin of Mt. Lebanon-based Hedin Environmental.
Hedin is also interested in the Phillips discharge, largely because of the volume of iron in the flow, which he estimates at up to 1 million pounds a year. "Phillips is in my crosshairs," Hedin said.
But even if the Phillips discharge is treated successfully, the Clearwater Initiative faces a big challenge in cleaning up additional mine discharges and sewage in the watershed.
The stream walk is an important step in the process.
