COLUMBUS, OH -- The Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) will contribute $95,000 toward restoration of Huff Run in Tuscarawas County where acid mine drainage from abandoned coal mines threatens wildlife. The agency will also contribute about $9,000 in in-kind services for ongoing water testing along the 9.3-mile tributary to Conotton Creek.
The ODNR money, allocated from the state's Acid Mine Drainage Abatement and Treatment Fund, matches a $100,000 grant obtained by the Huff Run Watershed Restoration Partnership, Inc. and other local conservation groups under the federal Clean Water Act. The $195,000 in total clean-up funds are specifically earmarked for reclamation of the South Side Tipple which ODNR experts say contributes significant levels of acid mine pollution to the waterway.
"Restoration of the Huff Run watershed is important to people and wildlife living in the Tuscarawas County area," said ODNR Director Sam Speck. "This money will help groups interested in returning the creek to its natural state accomplish the next phase of their project."
Historic coal mine operations are the primary cause of pollution in the Huff Run watershed. Abandoned refuse piles, spoil ridges and mine portals contribute to the acid mine drainage (AMD) in Huff Run and its tributaries. The South Side Tipple Project, phase two of a comprehensive plan to restore the nearly 15-square-mile watershed, will regrade and revegetate eight acres of spoil, remove an AMD impoundment and develop a passive treatment system for water flowing into Huff Run from the site.
Under the clean-up agreement, ODNR will also oversee design and engineering work on the project and provide long-term water quality testing along the stream.
Huff Run rates high on ODNR's list of state waterways in need of restoration. The department, along with the U.S. Geological Survey, operates a stream gauge monitoring station at Mineral City that measures oxygen, pH levels and other physical and chemical components of the water.
Additional information on the Huff Run Watershed Restoration Partnership is available on the internet at www.huffrun.org/