ACID MINE DRAINAGE ABATEMENT AND TREATMENT (AMDAT) PLAN FOR THE LEADING CREEK WATERSHED Confluence of Unnamed Tributary (TF1502) and Thomas Fork Acid mine drainage discharge in Bailey Run Mine Pool in Bailey Run Acid mine drainage seep in Hysell Run by Cynthia Bauers Michael Gosnell Raina Ooten Meigs County Soil and Water Conservation District Jen Bowman Ohio University’s Voinovich Center, ILGARD Barbara Flowers, Dave Vosefski, and Mary Ann Borch Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Mineral Resource Management May 2006 Table of Contents ABSTRACT ...............................................................................................................................6 SECTION TWO- Hydrologic Unit ............................................................................................8 Watershed Description ...........................................................................................................8 Land Use Characterization .....................................................................................................9 Geology ................................................................................................................................10 Groundwater.........................................................................................................................10 Mining History .....................................................................................................................11 Coal Seams .......................................................................................................................12 Parker Run........................................................................................................................13 SECTION THREE- Water Quality Overview .........................................................................14 Acid Mine Drainage .............................................................................................................14 Water Quality Standards.......................................................................................................15 Ohio Water Quality Standards: Aquatic Life Uses ..............................................................15 Ohio Water Quality Standards: Non-Aquatic Life Uses ......................................................16 Biological Criteria ................................................................................................................17 Leading Creek Watershed Group Targets and Benchmarks ................................................18 Historical Water Quality Data..............................................................................................19 Current Water Quality Data..................................................................................................23 Biological Health..................................................................................................................26 Meigs #31 Mine Incident..................................................................................................27 Leading Creek Mainstem..................................................................................................27 Thomas Fork Watershed...................................................................................................27 Little Leading Creek and Mud Fork.................................................................................28 Upper Watershed..............................................................................................................28 Conclusions ......................................................................................................................28 SECTION FOUR- Leading Creek Site Descriptions ...............................................................34 Leading Creek ......................................................................................................................34 Thomas Fork (TF00) ............................................................................................................36 Underdrain Systems Installed within the Leading Creek Watershed...............................43 Unnamed tributary on Bailey Run Road (TF15)..............................................................45 Kinzel’s seep (TF12).........................................................................................................53 Casto’s (TF11)..................................................................................................................57 East Branch of Thomas Fork (TF10) ...............................................................................61 Bailey Run (TF04) ............................................................................................................64 Hysell Run (TF03) ............................................................................................................69 Unnamed tributary on McElhinney Hill (TF02) ..............................................................77 Paulins Hill Run (PH00).......................................................................................................79 Titus Run (TR00) .................................................................................................................83 Other Streams affected by Acid Mine Drainage ..................................................................86 Little Leading Creek (LL00) ................................................................................................86 Lasher Run (LR00)...............................................................................................................87 SECTION FIVE- Cost-Benefit Analysis and treatment strategy.............................................88 SECTION SIX- Future monitoring ..........................................................................................91 SECTION SEVEN- Funding Opportunities.............................................................................93 SECTION EIGHT- Methodology ............................................................................................97 SECTION NINE- References...................................................................................................99 SECTION TEN- Appendices .................................................................................................102 Appendix A: Historical Water Quality...............................................................................103 Appendix B: Landowner Contact Information for Priority Tributaries .............................107 Appendix C. Photographs of Sampling Sites .....................................................................110 Appendix D: Site Locations ...............................................................................................120 Appendix E: Underdrain listing..........................................................................................124 Appendix F: Estimated reclamation costs ..........................................................................127 Appendix G: Water quality data.........................................................................................146 List of Figures Figure 1. Land Uses within Leading Creek Watershed............................................................10 Figure 2. Formation of Acid Mine Drainage............................................................................14 Figure 3. Trends in Mud Fork's Fish Abundance.....................................................................22 Figure 4. Trends in Little Leading's Fish Abundance ..............................................................22 Figure 5. Most severe historical pH values at sites along Leading Creek................................23 Figure 6. Acidity and metal loadings in Paulins Hill Subwatershed........................................24 Figure 7. Acidity and metal loadings in the Titus Run Subwatershed .....................................25 Figure 8. Acidity and metal loadings on Thomas Fork............................................................25 Figure 9. Extreme low flow, acid, and metal loadings on Thomas Fork .................................26 Figure 10. Percent contribution of acid and metal loadings from Thomas Fork sources.........38 Figure 11. Percent contribution of acid and metal loads from tributaries and sources in Thomas Fork.............................................................................................................................39 Figure 12. Acidity and metal loading along Thomas Fork.......................................................41 Figure 13. Hysell Run acidity and discharge measured on 4-5-04...........................................72 Figure 14. Hysell Run acidity and discharge measured on 9-12-05........................................73 List of Tables Table 1. Summary of Leading Creek tributaries and their characteristics .................................9 Table 2. Major effects of acid mine drainage on lotic systems (Gray, 1997) ..........................14 Table 3. Designated uses and subcategories for surface water resources ................................15 Table 4. Narrative ranges and biocriteria for the Western Allegheny Plateau.........................18 Table 5. Ohio EPA standards and benchmarks organized by the Leading Creek Watershed Group........................................................................................................................................18 Table 6. Historical attainment table for sites