Drainage from Pennsylvania's 250,000 acres of abandoned surface coal mines is the primary source of water degradation in Pennsylvania. In 1989, Pennsylvania's Department of Environmental Resources assessed 23,833 miles of streams for water quality. Nearly 49 percent were degraded from mine drainage. Penn State researchers have studied the use of limestone-based treatments, wetlands and pumped groundwater to improve these streams. The Pennsylvania Environmental Defense Foundation and conservation organizations used these research results to install a limestone-based diversion well on Lick Creek in Tioga County to abate damage by acid mine drainage at a relatively low cost.
Tests show the quality of the water improved enough to allow fish and aquatic insects to thrive.
These devices are now installed at 13 locations in Pennsylvania. Curbing farmland runoff. Penn State researchers found that farmers can use wetlands and sedimentation basins to filter runoff. About 200 farms have been directly evaluated and many opportunities to reduce pollution have been identified. More than 2,000 self-audits have been requested by farmers as well.