The Banning and Euclid Active Treatment Plants located in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, were selected for replacement. The Banning Mine No. 4 water treatment plant was constructed in 1966 and for mine water control and to meet compliance discharge, and was re-activated in 1984 to abate mine pool surface discharge and elevation management.

Existing Conditions and Challenges

The Banning Mine water treatment plant serves an important purpose in collecting mine water from the underground pool for treatment to allow suspended solids and metals to be removed to meet effluent limits. To prevent a surface breakout, the mine pool must be maintained below a specified elevation, and the infrastructure must include redundancy of equipment to limit plant downtime.

Recommendations and Goals

Kleinfelder’s team of professionals recommended replacing the existing infrastructure with a mine water pumping and treatment facility having a capacity of 6,500 gallons per minute. The conceptual design includes a new operations building and three vertical turbine pumps. This allows two of the mine dewatering pumps to operate during normal conditions while one pump remains on standby.

The flood plain of the Youghiogheny River constrained the new plant locations and required that additional fill was needed to raise the plant and pump operations pads to prevent flooding.

Goals of Kleinfelder’s design included maintaining the level of the mine pool, preventing surface discharges from the underground mine pool, meeting or exceeding the required effluent limits, and ultimately preserving the water quality in the Youghiogheny River. Throughout the process, Kleinfelder will provide a variety of services, including engineering, operations, permitting, maintenance, and construction administration.

Project Results

While still in the design phase of the project, it is expected that construction of the new treatment plant and other upgrades will begin as early as July 2024, with full commissioning as early as November 2025. With expanded capacity and attention to modern standards, the new facility will protect the waters of the Youghiogheny River and continue to function for many years.

Project Details

Location:
Westmoreland County, PA
Owner:
Clean Streams Foundation, Inc.