Impact of Buckeye Reclamation Landfill drainage pollution on aquatic macroinvertebrate communities

Conference · Sun Dec 31 04:00:00 EST 1995

OSTI ID:230932

Klemm, D J ^[1]; Thoeny, W T ^[2]

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1. Environmental Protection Agency, Cincinnati, OH (United States)
2. DynCorp., Cincinnati, OH (United States)

The Buckeye Reclamation Landfill (BRL), a Superfund site, incorporates approximately 50 acres of a 658 acre tract of land. The BRL consists of past underground mining voids, including some surface-mined lands, and mine refuse piles from processed bituminous coal. The area was subsequently used as a nonhazardous public and municipal solid waste landfill, and industrial sludge and liquid wastes were also deposited in an impoundment in the northern section of the landfill. The entire landfill area was completely covered with soil and revegetated in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The BRL produces acidic and highly mineralized drainage causing a widespread problem of serious mine drainage pollution in the watershed. A study was undertaken to assess the macroinvertebrate assemblages and to determine the extent of pollution (acidity, metals, and sediment runoff) of the BRL watershed. Samples were collected from four sites in 1994 and ten sites in 1995. Nine systematic and spatial transact samples were taken at each collection site for macrobenthos with a 595 Jim mesh, modified kick net from riffle/run and glide/pool habitats of streams surrounding the BRL watershed. All macroinvertebrates were identified to the lowest taxonomic level possible. The data (including community structure, other metrics, and Biotic Index scores) distinguish the impacted sites receiving landfill stressors (i.e., toxic leachates and sedimentation runoff) from the less impacted sites.

• OSTI ID: 230932
• Report Number(s): CONF-9511137--; ISBN 1-880611-03-1
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
56 BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE
APPLIED STUDIES
ABANDONED SHAFTS
ACID MINE DRAINAGE
AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS
BENTHOS
BIOLOGICAL EFFECTS
BIOLOGICAL INDICATORS
ENVIRONMENTAL TRANSPORT
INDUSTRIAL WASTES
LEACHATES
METALS
MONITORING
MUNICIPAL WASTES
SANITARY LANDFILLS
US SUPERFUND
WASTE PRODUCT UTILIZATION
WATER POLLUTION
WATERSHEDS