Restoring Our Water and Land

A Legacy of Degradation

Pennsylvania’s future as a healthful and attractive place to live and work is threatened by our legacy of degraded streams. Acid drainage from abandoned mines, alone, still poisons over 15,000 miles of streams and rivers. Three thousand stream miles are so intensely acidic that no fish can live in their flow and people cannot swim or boat. Mine drainage pollution seeps from the 200,000 acres of abandoned mine lands that still scar the state’s coal regions. Elsewhere, pesticide and fertilizer runoff from agricultural regions chokes the life from another --,--- miles of Pennsylvania streams.

A Natural Asset

Flowing water is one of Pennsylvania’s most valuable natural assets. Clean flowing water will make our future the best it can be. In a changing economy, our natural water resource can be Pennsylvania’s greatest environmental and economic advantage. In many parts of the country, and the world, water is a scarce resource. We have water here,

but much remains so polluted that it will not support fish or other aquatic life, and threatens human health. Pennsylvania can never reach its potential as a place to live, work and prosper unless we commit as a state to curb the continued abuse of our water and restore the degraded streams we inherited from past generations.

The Economic Cost of Polluted Waterways

Over 15,000 miles of rivers and streams are poisoned by acid drainage from abandoned mines. Otherwise, many of those streams are amon

g the most scenic and potentially attractive recreational waterways in the region. Acid mine drainage and other pollution sources cost Pennsylvania’s economy $70 million annually in lost recreational fishing opportunity alone. Most of that loss occurs in rural areas with struggling economies trying to recover from the decline of traditional industries. If cleansed of their pollution, these streams would easily lure fishermen and boaters – both local residents and tourists. Investments to restore these streams to health would result in anglers and boaters spending many new dollars in local communities.

Harm to Health and Industry

Runoff from poorly managed agricultural fields pollutes Pennsylvania’s streams and rivers. Agricultural runoff chokes dissolved oxygen from streams, kills fish, taints drinking water with foul taste and odors, and can threaten human health. High nitrate (from fertilizers) concentrations in drinking water can cause methoglobinemia, a potentially fatal disease in infants.

Chemicals washed from fields in central Pennsylvania have been identified as the cause of a severe decline of the smallmouth bass fishery in the Susquehanna River, a recreational resource that once drew sport fishermen (and their dollars for meals, travel and lodging) from around the country. The Susquehanna provides half the freshwater input into Chesapeake Bay where oysters, fish, crabs, and the valuable recreational and commercial fishing industries they support have declined due to pollution. Agricultural pollution not only harms aquatic life and human health, it costs farmers unnecessary dollars when they apply pesticides and fertilizers at levels that are higher than needed or in ways that allow their investment to wash off the field into nearby streams.

Growing Greener Can Help Restore Waterways

We have made progress in restoring abused waterways but the challenge remains widespread and costly. Acid mine drainage seeps from nearly 200,000 acres of scarred land across Pennsylvania’s coal regions. Reclamation of abandoned mine lands to stop or treat their pollution costs $8,000 to $10,000 per acre, and the estimated price to restore all acid-damaged streams and rivers is at least $5 billion. Federal restoration efforts can reduce Pennsylvania’s financial burden by contributing fifteen federal dollars for every dollar the state invests in water restoration. Soil scientists and agricultural conservationists know how to minimize pollution from farmland but Pennsylvania needs a significant investment to put that knowledge into practice on the land.