hedinRECOVERY OF IRON OXIDE FROM MINE DRAINAGE: The Lowber Project
The Lowber project involved the design, permitting, and construction of a large system of ponds and wetlands that passively treats a large discharge from the Marchand Mine. The system is located in the outskirts of the small town of Lowber in Sewickley Township, Westmoreland County, PA. The site is a former slope entry, coal processing and railroad tipple facility that operated in the late 1800s and early 1900s. The mine was closed in the 1930s and in 1942 a large discharge of acid mine drainage began flowing from the mine portal. For the next 64 years, the discharge polluted Sewickley Creek with more than one ton per day of iron contamination. With completion of this project, this major source of pollution to Sewickley Creek has been eliminated.
Hedin Environmental and the Sewickley Creek Watershed Association have received one of the nine 2008 Governor's Awards for Environmental Excellence for this project. A scientific analysis of the system's performance was published in Mine Water and the Environment. The project was also featured in an article in Earth Magazine.
Click HERE to view a Technical Paper about the Treatment System.