Published: November 12, 2009 11:13 pm      

Barr Township plant will revive aquatic life in river, officials say

NORTHERN CAMBRIA — Construction has begun on a mine drainage treatment facility in Barr Township that state officials say will help restore aquatic life to the upper regions of the West Branch of the Susquehanna River.

The state is building the

$11 million plant, using federal funds. The plant is expected to improve water quality in at least 35 miles of the river, which empties into the Chesapeake Bay.

The plant will treat up to

10 million gallons per day of acidic water from the abandoned 7,100-acre Lancashire Mine No. 15. That water is now being pumped, treated and discharged to the Ohio River Basin, depriving the West Branch of water.

The Lancashire Mine blew out in 1969, causing a fish kill that stretched over more than 40 miles of the river.

The new water treatment plant will be operational in late 2011. It will use a process that pumps water from the mine, treats it with hydrated lime to remove metals and raises the water’s alkalinity before it is discharged into the river.

The contracts were unveiled in October as part of a nine-project plan for five counties.

Cleaning up abandoned mines has been a DEP priority.

Projects are funded mainly by the federal Abandoned Mine Lands Fund. Pennsylvania received $30 million from the fund in 2009 and is projected to receive $1.1 billion by 2022.