The rusty waters of Racoon Creek: Water restoration efforts post-unregulated coal mining

Fluorescent orange streams are a familiar site to those living along the Raccoon Creek that weaves through Hocking, Vinton, Athens, Meigs, Jackson, and Gallia counties. The legacy of coal is alive in the Monday Creek, Sunday Creek and Racoon Creek through acid mine drainage (AMD), where the water that runs through abandoned mines mixes with sulfur acid, iron, aluminum and other heavy metals to create acidic watersheds and the noticeable color change. 

Currently, there are 22 projects on the Racoon Creek Watershed to treat AMD, with the costs amounting over $16 million dollars. Many of these projects–active, passive and reclamation– are handled by restoration coordinator Amy Mackey with the Racoon Creek Partnership.

While unregulated mining is to blame for ending up in the ongoing environmental crisis and poor water quality, tax revenue from current-day mining is a major source of funding for these restoration projects, with additional funds from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources and the EPA. 

“When our current day coal mining decreases, our funding for pre-law (unregulated) mine restoration decreases as well. So, it's a tricky subject to navigate around,” Mackey said. 

Despite this ‘tricky’ situation, Mackey noted her pleasure in sharing recovery of the watershed over the atrocities. 

She highlighted that since the treatment project was implemented in the 1990s, over half of the 200 mile-long stream has reached or exceeded the standards of exceptional warmwater habitat for the state of Ohio. 

“Exceptional” is listed as the highest on the scale of relative biological integrity on the EPA website, and described as “waters with the potential for significant populations of endangered species, unusually good chemical quality, above-average abundance of sensitive species, above-average populations of top carnivores.”

One aspect of that treatment project that aided in achieving that exceptional status is the Carbondale doser, the only active treatment project in the watershed. 

Mackey explained a difference between active and passive treatment methods lies in the installation and maintenance. Active treatment requires little installation costs, but lots of maintenance, while passive treatment bears high installation costs and little maintenance. 

Passive projects such as anaerobic wetlands also treat the acidic waters through either bacteria or limestone rock, but are not as effective at treating larger amounts of water, according to Mackey. 

The most expensive projects are proactive reclamation projects that cost around $1 million to $2 million dollars to repair about 30 acres of surface mine area by scrapping and then capping with clay to prevent the damaging chemical mixture, according to Mackey. Reclamation is only an option for surface mines, underground mines require a different treatment. 

The Carbondale doser, in western Athens county,  is ‘active’ through its process of adding calcium oxide to neutralize the highly acidic water with an alkaline substance. 

The construction and installation of the about 30 feet tall doser cost almost $440,000 with annual maintenance costs of about $40,000. 

As the water flows out of the mine, it travels through a pipe that then spins a wheel that turns a chain which rotates a gear in a gearbox to gyrate the auger and dispense the calcium oxide into the running water, all without electricity all day every day, barring complications, Mackey explained.  

To further complicate the situation, in order to operate the doser about 20 tons of calcium oxide, a mined substance, must be trucked from West Virginia every five weeks. 

“This is the best solution we have right now. But these are all things to think about,” Mackey said. 

While strides and progress have been made through the work of Mackey she shared she is working towards building a second doser in Jackson county.