Healing Waters
In addition to a water source for farms and homes of yesteryear and a current-day recreation venue for kayakers and canoeists, the Connoquenessing Creek is home to an abundance of living creatures, from those that hop or swim, down to microscopic organisms that indicate the creek's health.
That health has fluctuated over the years as the activities of human beings have affected the vitality of the 50-mile creek.
In addition to flooding that still plagues many of the businesses and homes along its banks after a few days of heavy rain, the creek was polluted over the years by the many factories that cropped up along its shores, mainly in Butler Township.
A 1927 Butler Eagle article discussed the disappearance of fish from the creek and the failed efforts to install protective filters at that time.In 1999, the federal Environmental Protection Agency ranked the Connoquenessing the second most polluted waterway in the United States. Only the Mississippi River scored higher.The nitrates used for many years in the pickling process at the former Armco Steel, which was purchased by AK Steel in 1999, were found to cause “blue baby syndrome,” or oxygen deprivation in the fetuses of pregnant women.The EPA ordered AK Steel to correct the problem, which the company did at great expense over the next few years.
Zelienople was forced to turn to the Connoquenessing, its backup water source, in 1998 and 1999 when its primary water provider, Scholar's Run, was reduced to a trickle by dry weather.The dubious distinction of second-most polluted plus the plight of public water customers in Zelienople, where bottled water was distributed, led to the formation of the Connoquenessing Watershed Alliance in 1999.Dave Andrews, a Butler Area School District science teacher and a founding member of the watershed alliance, recalled that a meeting was advertised for parties interested in improving the condition of the Connoquenessing Creek.
The meeting determined that the group's purpose should be the health of the entire creek and not just the single goal of returning trout to the water.The watershed alliance performed extensive monthly testing for several years on the Connoquenessing and its tributaries.“At one point, we had 12 to 14 different testing teams,” Andrews said.Because the group counted among its members college professors, high school science teachers and the state Fish and Boat Commission, the alliance was not forced to hire outside laboratories for its testing, Andrews said.The group also began holding cleanup events much like those currently performed every August and September by the Allegheny Aquatic Alliance, during which tires and debris are pulled from the creek and properly discarded.But Andrews said the biggest factor in returning the creek to its current healthy state was the change in the pickling process at AK Steel.“That decreased the amount of nitrates in the water because they are not using nitric acid anymore,” he said.The Connoquenessing Watershed Alliance also carried out a freshwater mussel survey in which two or three volunteers would strap on snorkels and search for the mussels in the creek and its tributaries.“Especially on Thorn Creek, we turned up loads of mussels,” Andrews said of the tributary that empties into the Connoquenessing near Renfrew. “(The presence of mussels) is a great indication that the creek is clean.”While walking Thorn Creek, Andrews said, volunteers found lots of evidence of the oil boom in Renfrew in the late 1800s as well as the remnants of homesteads along the bank.He said the watershed alliance continues to work with the Fish and Boat Commission to monitor the quality of the Connoquenessing.Andrews' thoughts on the work of the watershed alliance echoes the sentiments of many who find the history of the Connoquenessing Creek fascinating.
“It's been a great past and we are looking ahead to the future,” Andrews said.The state Department of Environmental Protection has several “stations” or points along the creek where water is collected for quality testing.Reports from the DEP corroborate Andrews' claims about the health of the creek near AK Steel, which is now owned by Cleveland-Cliffs Inc.“DEP biologists assess the streams and lakes in Pennsylvania, including the Connoquenessing, and most recently assessed the creek in 2010,” said DEP spokesman Tom Decker. “One significant and measurable improvement to the Connoquenessing occurred when AK Steel made substantial changes to (its) industrial processes, which led to significant reduction in nitrates discharged to the Conno.“This led to nearly 10 river miles of the Conno that were previously listed on DEP's Impaired Water List. However, the creek still has a ways to go regarding environmental health.”“The Conno is still impaired as a result of a number of other items such as siltation due to urban runoff and storm sewer (discharge) or from organic enrichment from agriculture for much or all of its main stem,” Decker said. “Some tributaries to the Conno are also impaired, while others are not.”Joe Brancato, aquatic biologist supervisor at DEP's Northwest Regional Office in Meadville, said changes and reductions in discharge from AK Steel and the Butler Area Sewer Authority in Butler Township have improved the entire Connoquenessing watershed, but other issues are preventing it from moving from “impaired” to “healthy” status.“Development has increased in the watershed and will be evaluated when the re-assessment of the Connoquenessing Creek watershed occurs,” Brancato said. “Agricultural and historical mining impairments continue to degrade the watershed.”The dozens of farms that abut the creek along its course cause runoff that contains silt, and chemicals such as nitrogen and phosphorus that modify the makeup of the water.
Habitat modifications like the loss of native plants along the creek's banks also negatively affect the waterway, Brancato said.Another issue to the creek is runoff from long-forgotten mines.“One of the most common sources of impairments to Pennsylvania waters is acid mine drainage, mainly from historical mining,” Brancato said. “The normal causes of pollution from AMD are metals like iron, aluminum and manganese, pH and siltation.”An interactive map on issues affecting the Connoquenessing Creek shows acid mine drainage affects the source of the creek before it empties into the Oneida Valley Reservoir.At the other end of the reservoir, the listed impairment to the creek is “flow moderations.”Near the Route 422 interchange at Routes 68 and 38, the issue impairing the creek changes to silt entering the creek from urban runoff and storm sewers.At the AK Steel property, the map lists “nutrients,” or large concentrations of nitrogen and phosphorus, as the negative impact on the creek.The impairment type returns to urban runoff and storm sewers where the creek passes under McCalmont Road until its intersection with Thorn Run, which ends at the Connie just east of Renfrew.Agriculture runoff remains the listing on the map from Renfrew until the Connie exits Butler County west of Zelienople.More information on the health of the Connoquenessing and other creeks in the state is available at http://www.depgis.state.pa.us/emappa/
