DEP Watershed Coordinator Joan Sattler was then introduced to speak about the Shamokin Creek Restoration Alliance Pilot Watershed Management program. Sattler said there are 250,000 acres of abandoned surface mines in Pennsylvania and 2,400 stream miles polluted with acid mine drainage. Sattler said that acid mine drainage effects surface waters in 45 of our 67 counties and is the single largest water pollution problem facing Pennsylvania. It represents 56 percent of our degraded waters. Sattler explained that acid mine drainage is the gunk that results from a chemical reaction that forms when iron pyrite or fools gold is exposed to air and water.
Iron pyrite is a mineral found in coal and the exposure happens when the coal seam is extracted.
She said that iron pyrite and oxygen plus water equals iron hydroxide and sulfuric acid which dissolves other minerals and metals from the surrounding rocks and releases additional pollutants - most commonly aluminum and manganese. Sattler said these metals become oxidized and precipitate out. Iron coats the stream orange, aluminum, white and manganese, black. She said you can find streams with these colors throughout Pennsylvania. Sattler noted that the metal precipitants are in and of themselves toxic.