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16 - Managing TDS and Sulfate in the Monongahela River

Three Rivers QUEST

from Part III - Case Studies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2022

By
Paul Ziemkiewicz ,
Melissa O’Neal ,
Tamara Vandivort ,
Joseph Kingsbury  and
Rachel Pell
Edited by
John Stolz ,
Daniel Bain  and
Michael Griffin
John Stolz
Affiliation:
Duquesne University, Pittsburgh
Daniel Bain
Affiliation:
University of Pittsburgh
Michael Griffin
Affiliation:
Carnegie Mellon University, Pennsylvania
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Summary

In late 2008 increasingly high concentrations of total dissolved solids (TDS) exceeding Federal Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA/PL 93-523) standards of 500 milligrams per liter (mg/L) for public water supplies were found in the Monongahela River. The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PA DEP) began investigating TDS levels at points along approximately 70 stream miles on the Monongahela River from the West Virginia border to the confluence with the Youghiogheny River. In response, the West Virginia Water Research Institute (WVWRI) spearheaded a long-term water quality monitoring program in the Monongahela River Basin to identify sources and potential remediation options. The team found that modulation of the discharge volume from acid mine drainage treatment plants along the river could control TDS and sulfate levels below SDWA limits. Operators of the AMD treatment plants implemented the newly developed discharge management plan. The monitoring program expanded in 2012 to include the Allegheny and Upper Ohio River basins, adopting the name Three Rivers Quest (3RQ).

Keywords

Allegheny RiverMonongahela RiverOhio RiverDunkard Creektotal dissolved solidsbromidetrihalomethanes
Type
Chapter
Information
Environmental Impacts from the Development of Unconventional Oil and Gas Reserves , pp. 386 - 410
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

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References

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