Lackawanna River Corridor Association

Lackawanna River Watershed Conservation Plan

Water Quality

â60 miles of river, nearly 200 miles of tributary streams and 350 square miles of land in watershed
â150 miles of interstate highways, 150 miles of US routes, 300 miles of State routes,
â1200 miles of Legislative routes, 3000 miles of municipal routes and streets
âApproximately 52.5 square miles of watershed land affected by impervious cover, buildings, roads, parking lots, abandoned mine sites, and landfills equaling about 15% of our watershed.
âHome to approximately 200,000 people, over 80,000 households on public sewer systems and approximately 10,000 on-lot systems
âOver 1800 miles of sanitary and combined sewer lines, nearly 80 miles of main sewer lines with 150 CSO points, 12 publicly owned sewer treatment plants, discharging approximately 70-80 million gallons per day of treated effluent
â30% or 100+ square miles of watershed in agricultural or old field successional land cover - approx. 33 square miles protected by agricultural easements
â65% or 227 square miles of watershed is predominately forested, which includes: undeveloped mountains, wetlands, reservoir recharge areas, and river or tributary headwaters
âUpper 25% of river and tributary headwater areas are high quality cold water fisheries, at or near exceptional value classification

Pollution Sources

âPoint sources to Lackawanna River:

–Approximately 20 discharge points under NPDES permits regulated through Clean Water Act by PA DEP Bureau of Water Quality (approximately 150 CSO outfalls are included under sewage treatment plant permits)

Sewage Treatment Plant Outfall Combined Sewer Overflow Outfall

Pollution Sources

âNon-point sources to Lackawanna River:

–agriculture, timber harvest
–site development and construction
–urban storm water runoff
–acid mine drainage
–abandoned mine lands
–air pollution

Erosion off abandoned mine lands Acid Mine Drainage

Pollution Indicators

âChemical Indicators:

–high concentrations of nutrients, metals, volatile compounds, sediment and suspended solids
–abnormal levels of pH, dissolved oxygen, alkalinity, conductivity

âBiological Indicators:

–absence of pollution sensitive or dominance of pollution tolerant macroinvertebrates
–excessive algae
–health of the resident fish population

Pollution Indicators - Macroinvertebrates

Pollution Sensitive Pollution Tolerant

Pollution Indicators

Increased algae indicates excessive nutrients

A reproducing native trout population indicates relatively good water quality

River and Tributary Conditions

Water and aquatic habitat quality are generally good from headwaters downstream to the river’s mid point at the I-81bridge (Scranton/Dickson City line)
Water and aquatic habitat quality degrades from Scranton to Old Forge but are showing signs of stability
The river fails to attain its water quality use classification under state and federal law for its final three miles from Old Forge to the confluence, due in large part to the Old Forge and Duryea AMD outfalls
Many reaches of tributary streams are also degraded from past mining activity and are impacted by:

-acid mine drainage

-loss of water flow to coal mines

-culm dumps along stream corridor

Tributaries also affected by encroachment of developers on properties adjacent to stream corridor

Our Recommendations to Date

âRequire mine reclamation and large economic development sites to include restoration of stream corridors and watershed habitat
âRequire upgrades to sewer interceptors and capital projects to reduce or eliminate CSO’s; get sewer authorities to take a lead in cleaning up the CSO’s
âEncourage engineers, developers and municipal agencies to consider the benefits of protecting, conserving and restoring wetlands, open space, stream corridors and riparian buffers
Promote adoptions by local municipalities of zoning land use and subdivision ordinances that provide protection for stream corridors
âEncourage bio-engineering and conservation development practices, especially when redeveloping brownfields and abandoned mine lands
âUpdate county’s Lackawanna River Storm Water Management Plan (Act 167) with requirements for water protection and improvements
Advocate for increased collaboration by sewer authorities, municipalities, and state agencies with the LRCA to promote the Lackawanna River Partnership as a round-table to review and advance projects that will beneficially impact the environment
âAdvocate for more federal and state funding targeted to the Lackawanna Watershed for water quality work
âCreate River Watch teams to monitor water quality

ââ