Recovery of an Acid Mine Drainage-Impacted Stream Treated by Steel Slag Leach Beds

The East Branch of Raccoon Creek, Ohio is highly impacted by pre-regulation coal mining and contains 10 steel slag leach beds that passively treat the low pH, and the Fe and Al-rich waters. Water chemistry, sediment chemistry, aquatic macroinvertebrate richness and diversity, habitat quality, and stream gradient were examined along the mainstem and a headwater tributary where multiple treatment systems are located. The stream gradient showed no significant relationship with sediment quality. Higher flows increased instream concentrations of Fe and the portion of suspended Fe in the water column. Macroinvertebrate richness and diversity varied from good to very poor and were negatively correlated with sediment Cu, Fe, Mn, and other water quality parameters such as specific conductivity and total dissolved solids, but were positively correlated with pH.