Volume 6, Issue 2 Fall 1999

A Publication of the Lackawanna River Corridor Association

Lackawanna River Conservation Plan

The LRCA has been awarded a $24,000 grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (PA DCNR) to develop a new River Conservation Plan for the Lackawanna River and its watershed tributary streams. The Scranton Foundation has announced it will match the DCNR grant with a grant of $24,000.

We are working with our partners, the Rail Trail Council and Trail Conservation Corp on the Upper Lackawanna watershed on separately funded DCNR plan for the Upper Lackawanna above Carbondale. This will allow the LRCA to extend our planning work to include many of the Lackawanna's seventy-six tributary streams such as Roaring Brook, Spring Brook, Leggetts Creek, and Grassy Island Creek. This work will also include identification of resource issues and projects in the upland watershed areas and headwaters wetlands along Moosic Mountain and in the North Pocono areas.

The LRCA will develop the plan in partnership with property owners, community and neighborhood organizations, and local municipalities. The plan will update the original Citizens Master Plan for the Lackawanna River developed by the LRCA in 1989. The participation of volunteers will be an important way the LRCA hopes to involve the public with the river during the year 2000. We encourage river side property owners, people who use the river for fishing or who enjoy walking along one of our new river trails to share their ideas with us.

Do you have a particular project that you would like to suggest, a persistent problem that you think needs to be addressed? Please contact the LRCA with your comments by calling 207-7608 or contact us by e-mail at lrca@epix.net.

We need volunteers to help conduct stream walk surveys. We will be sending teams of staff and volunteers to walk every mile of riverbank and many miles of tributary stream corridor as well. We will hold several public meetings to receive input on the plan and we will convene a municipal advisory committee composed of representatives of the twenty-six municipalities in the watershed. This committee will remain in place following completion of the plan to coordinate new programs and assist municipalities to improve their conservation of river and watershed resources.

We will also be posting the plan documents on the LRCA website at www.lrca.org. We look forward to working with our membership on this new plan. You can help us to identify and define one-time projects or ongoing programs that will help our community restore and conserve the river and its watershed. Call today with your comments and ideas.

LRCA To Release River Watch Report

The Lackawanna River has been holding its own as far as its aquatic health is concerned in the upper and middle watershed according to a soon to be released River Watch report. The report is an analysis of water quality data and macroinvertebrate diversity collections developed by LRCA River Watch volunteers between 1991 and 1998.

The LRCA organized River Watch to help learn about the environmental conditions and the biological health of the River. Local citizens have volunteered to join River Watch and help monitor the river by collecting macroinvertebrates.

Macroinvertebrates are aquatic insects that live in the river. Some aquatic insects such as mayflies and stoneflies can only live in clean unpolluted water. Other bugs such as caddis flies, scuds and aquatic worms are more pollution tolerant and can live in polluted water. Some waters are so polluted that no bugs, fish or other aquatic organisms can live. By analyzing which bugs live where in relation to other bugs, River Watch is able to determine how healthy the river is at different locations and to track changes to the river's health over time.

Since the program was started in 1989, it has looked at twenty-seven locations on the river and streams leading to the river. The work of LRCA volunteers to collect and analyze the information was complimented by LRCA staff member Art Popp and LRCA director Dr. Daniel Townsend, both trained biologists. Their analysis and additional comments by volunteers are contained in a twenty-five page report that identifies many of the pollution problems in the Lackawanna.

Some highlights of the report are as follows:

° Macroinvertebrate collections in 1998 found very healthy water quality conditions in the upper reaches of the river, from Forest City to Jermyn. A diversity of pollution sensitive aquatic insects, such as stoneflies and mayflies, thrive in this stretch of the river.

° From Jermyn to North Scranton, more pollution tolerant aquatic insects begin to appear, and the decline in water quality is evident at the North Scranton site.

° The decline in water quality and healthy conditions continues through Scranton and down to Old Forge and the macroinvertebrate community is dominated by aquatic insects that can tolerate pollution.

° The Roaring Brook in east Scranton has an insect population that is typical of polluted water. The Roaring Brook is not contributing any improvement to the River.

° A comparison of aquatic insect collections in 1998 to those in 1991 found more pollution sensitive insects, such as mayflies and stoneflies in Forest City, Jermyn and North Scranton, indicating that pollution has decreased in these areas and the river is becoming healthier.

° In South Scranton and Old Forge, there has been little change from 1991 to 1998, reflecting continued pollution problems at these sites.

° On the Roaring Brook, aquatic insect populations were not as good in 1998 as they were in 1991, indicating perhaps a decline in water quality in the Roaring Brook.

River Watch has also helped to identify four major sources of pollution affecting the Lackawanna:

1. Combined sewer-storm water overflows (CSO) - Runoff from rain and melting snow drain into sewer lines. When this water exceeds the capacity of the sewer lines, the CSO pipes discharge the mixture of sewage and runoff water into the river. There are about 140 CSO pipes along the river. This polluted water contains not only sewage but other materials from the runoff, such as litter, dumped or spilled chemicals from homes and businesses, oil leaked from cars and road salt.

2. Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs) - There are six major STP along the river. The effluent from the STP contains nutrients that can cause algae growth and consume the oxygen in the water that the aquatic plants and animals need to live. The discharges also contain metals and other pollutants.

3. Flooded Mine Tunnel Discharges - Water from the discharges contain high levels of iron and sulfur, acid water and low levels of oxygen. Some of the largest discharges, particularly in the lower reaches dump millions of gallons into the river daily.

4. Non-point pollution sources - Many other sources, such as silting from construction sites, leached materials from coal lands, and littering affect the health of the river.

During the next few years, these sources of pollution will need to be addressed if we are going to clean up the Lackawanna River. New requirements under the Clean Water Act will mean that our sewer authorities, local governments and all citizens will need to focus more attention and resources on preventing pollution before it impacts our rivers. Your support of the LRCA and River Watch can help us become a stronger voice to lead our community towards a healthier river. To learn more about River Watch look for the complete report on the publications page of the LRCA website at www.lrca.org or contact us at lrca@epix .net or call 570 207-7608.

Water Quality Handbook Available

The Lackawanna River Corridor Association has written a water quality handbook to help give you the information you need to be a responsible river citizen. Copies of the handbook are available free at the LRCA office or on our website at www.lrca.org. We can mail you one for $2 each to cover postage and handling.

Friends of the River

The Lackawanna River Corridor Association Board and Staff thank you for your continued support.