Bringing Back the Bringing Back the FishFish

Acid Mine Drainage in the Kettle Acid Mine Drainage in the Kettle Creek WatershedCreek Watershed

Once upon a time…Once upon a time…

• There lived a small-mouthed bass named Lucky. Lucky lived in the lush forest kingdom of Kettle Creek, where he and his hundreds of other friends and family were always happy and free (except the time Uncle Jimbo fell into that net…),because Kettle Creek Watershed was one of the cleanest and most popular fishing areas in the country.

Our WatershedOur Watershed• Everytime you drive, walk,

or move somewhere, you pass dozens of streams, ponds, brooks, and other bodies of water. All this water drains into one big ‘group’ of waterways, which we call a Watershed.

• Watersheds are where all our drinking water, pool water, and even sewage water come from, and also where Lucky and his family live and play. He, and all of us, live around the Kettle Creek Watershed, which was one of the cleanest and purest in Pennsylvania

Here you can see how long our watershed is, since it stretches through Tioga County, Potter County, and finally Clinton County. The watershed runs mostly through parks and forests, and is prime fishing area! (Just don’t tell Lucky)

Disaster Strikes!Disaster Strikes!• Then, one day, Lucky heard a lot of banging and crashing

coming from the mountains. His mother told him that they had found a lot of coal in Renovo, and had started to mine it.

• Then, after a couple of years, Lucky woke up and saw that the water was orange! His father came to him and told him then that the miners had stopped mining, but they had left all the old coal and chemicals there.

• Soon all the old chemicals and waste, along with all the coal refuse, drained into Kettle Creek’s waterways. The water turned orange and black, and all of Lucky’s family died from the acid in the water.

The Wicked AMD of the The Wicked AMD of the NorthNorth

• This AMD, or Acid Mine Drainage, was caused by all the old junk and chemicals from the coal mining being dumped, thrown, or drained into Kettle Creek.

• You know the Wicked AMD of the North has come when most of the water life is gone, and the streams become orange or black. The banks of the river will start to erode, and soon the entire watershed is polluted!

How the AMD Takes OverHow the AMD Takes Over• When all the old iron

minerals (pyrite) in the coal comes in contact with the water, it dissolves and turns the water extremely acidic. The only natural way this can be cleaned is if the pH level raises enough to get precipitation to occur, which can be nearly impossible if it can’t immediately happen.

• There are two ways the Wicked AMD of the North can be thoroughly defeated though; the Passive Treatment & the Active Treatment.

Melting the Witch!Melting the Witch!Active Treatment

• Acid Discharges (the acidic activity in Kettle Creek) are neutralized (or stomped out) by pouring in strong alkaline metals, such as lime or ammonia.

• While this is the quickest and easiest way to get rid of AMD, its is VERY expensive and most Watersheds don’t have the money for it.

Passive Treatment• Instead of pouring chemicals

right in, the rivers and streams are sent into a ‘controlled environment’, like a large pool of water, where all the acidic refuse dumps into.

• In this pool, ditch, or well, a group of biologists and chemists observe the level of acidity, and decide on how best to treat the water.

Saving the CreekSaving the Creek•Six years ago, the Kettle Creek Watershed Association pulled funds and wrote enough grants to begin large projects to purify the streams and rivers throughout the Watershed. They planned on doing Passive Treatment to reroute the streams and save our fish.•One such project is shown above, where the Delayed Harvest section of Kettle Creek was regraded and repaired by changing the flow of the waterways.

Changing the FutureChanging the Future

• Lucky worked with the the Kettle Creek Assoc. volunteers and since 2001 has cleaned nearly all the the Acid Mine Drainage out of the waters. These projects were the first of their scale in Pennsylvania, because they were so big and planned out exactly what was needed. Anyone can still volunteer and help clean though, so don’t be afraid to help out your community!

A Turn AroundA Turn Around• At a recent conference, Governor Rendell announced that the Kettle Creek

Association would get $595,000 for passive treatment on Middle Run and Robins Hollow. He also commented that Kettle Creek is almost the cleanest and most restored watershed in Pennsylvania, deeming it in ‘Excellent’ condition. Knowing this, Lucky is constantly urging all his cousins to come back to Kettle Creek, and soon he’ll have all his family again!

Kettle Creek’s ‘Wetter’ Kettle Creek’s ‘Wetter’ Citizens Citizens

• By getting rid of the Acid Mine Drainage in the Kettle Creek Watershed, Lucky and his pals are now swimming happily through Twomile Run and Robins Hollow. This is part of the Fish Habitat Project in the streams, and already Kettle Creek is becoming more popular for fishing than ever before! Lucky also thanks our own high school, for because of Mrs. Hendricks’ Fish in the Classroom project the Kettle Creek Assoc. has had many more volunteers and discoveries to save Lucky’s friends.

Hi Jimmy!

You Can Help Lucky!You Can Help Lucky!• On Saturday May 3, 2008, Lucky and his friends invite you

to come and celebrate the 10th Anniversary of the Kettle Creek Watershed Association! Come play cool games, raffle and prizes, and a potluck dinner! It will begin at 6:00 pm at Kettle Creek Co. in Cross Fork, and everyone is encouraged to come out.

The EndThe EndBut don’t forget that But don’t forget that

helping our watershed helping our watershed (and Lucky!), can never (and Lucky!), can never

end!end!

A special thank you to Mrs. Hendricks, for her inexaustable supply of info on our watershed.