News

West Virginia University scholars will join other water restoration experts to provide the latest updates on regulations and practices during a joint conference hosted by WVU, the West Virginia Mine Drainage Task Force, and the International Mine Water Association.

The event will be held April 21-26, 2024 in Morgantown at the Morgantown Marriott at Waterfront Place.

The risks of living near drilling pads are well documented. Radioactive fracking waste processed at off-site landfills extends those concerns to other communities.  

Strange things have been happening around Rostraver. One of Jack Kruell’s neighbors died of Ewing sarcoma. Another, Kruell said, is ill and “on the way out.” Overnight, the plants in his backyard died and sometimes when he mows his lawn, a silvery dust floats through the air. 

Private support from the Colcom Foundation for West Virginia University and the West Virginia Water Research Institute is providing $3.5 million in financial resources to help bolster environmental sustainability and water research efforts at WVU and throughout the region.

The Colcom Foundation, a longtime benefactor of the WVU School of Medicine, is based in Pittsburgh, and focuses on enacting positive environmental change with a focus on aquatic, riparian and terrestrial habitats. Now, the organization is providing additional funds for the West Virginia Water Research Institute that will add a new element to Three Rivers Quest, a water quality monitoring and reporting program supported by Colcom Foundation for more than a decade with upwards of $3.3 million in grant funding.

First published in the 2023 Buckhannon River Watershed Association Newsletter.

What is AMD?

Published in WVU Magazine | Research 2023

Paul Ziemkiewicz has been working to clean up streams for decades, but the discovery that acid mine drainage or AMD, holds the elements used in electronics has made that effort not only noble, but potentially profitable. The most valuable — neodymium, praseodymium, terbium and dysprosium — that make high-performance magnets and others that fire up flat screen televisions, smart phones and LED lights, can be found in the leftover gunk from coal mines that turns streams orange and sterile.

Registration is open for both  WVWRI Virtual Seminar Series and Three Rivers QUEST Virtual Roundtable Series!

Land and Water Reclamation | 12/21/23 10:00-11:00 am

The Water Research Institute (WRI) recently initiated two new projects that will advance the production and processing of Rare Earth Element/Critical Material (REE/CM) concentrates from acid mine drainage (AMD).  The new awards were made by the U.S. Departments of Energy ($8MM) and Defense ($3MM) through funding supported by U.S. Senators Joe Manchin and Capito to advance work on increasing the domestic supply of REE/CMs

In late 2015, a team of researchers at WVU led by WRI director Dr. Paul Ziemkiewicz conceived the idea of recovering REE/CM from AMD – a legacy environmental issue and the single largest source of water pollution in Appalachia.   As envisioned, the process would simultaneously treat the wastewater to discharge standards while producing critical raw materials for technology and defense.  Because REE/CM are soluble in acid, AMD naturally leaches them out of the surrounding rock. Consequently, this process yields a high-grade feedstock without the usual expenses and delays associated with traditional mining, exploration, permitting and infrastructure.  Also, AMD based feedstocks are exceptionally valuable, typically containing over 50% magnet and heavy REEs.

West Virginia University researchers will continue to develop and advance their pioneering method to extract and separate rare earth elements and critical minerals from acid mine drainage and coal waste, courtesy of $8 million in new funding from the U.S. Department of Energy.

The grant, part of President Joe Biden’s Investing in America agenda, will lead to the design, construction and operation of a pre-commercial demonstration facility for separating and refining rare earth elements and critical minerals, according to Paul Ziemkiewicz, project lead and director of the West Virginia Water Research Institute at WVU.

A new study by WVU and West Virginia Water Research Institute (WVWRI) researchers utilizes 3RQ data to analyze how management changes have impacted water quality in the Monongahela River Basin. The study focuses on twelve sites on the Monongahela River and its major tributaries that, as part of the 3RQ program, have at least monthly water quality data dating back to 2009. Researchers examine water quality trends from 2009-2019 under the lens of three key management changes that occurred within this time period. These management changes include a voluntary discharge management plan developed by the WVWRI and implemented by the coal industry (2010), Pennsylvania’s prohibition of produced wastewater in publicly owned treatment facilities (2011), and construction of a reverse osmosis treatment facility (2013). Since the implementation of these changes, primarily the voluntary discharge management plan which encompasses most of the watershed, TDS in the Monongahela has not exceeded the EPA′s secondary drinking water standards. The results from this study have demonstrated how bromide, chloride, sulfate, and TDS trend changes coincided with discharge and critical water quality management alterations to the Monongahela River Basin. While individual management decisions may be effective, combining multiple watershed-scale decisions targeting contributing constituents of TDS can lead to greater overall effectiveness. Published to Water in February of 2023, the article, entitled "Effective Management Changes to Reduce Halogens, Sulfate, and TDS in the Monongahela River Basin, 2009–2019," is free and open to the public. 

Meet Paul Ziemkiewicz, PhD. Paul grew up in western Pennsylvania. As a child, he dreamed of cleaning up his local rivers and streams, which were devoid of life due to acid mine drainage. Today, as the Director of Water Research at West Virginia University (WVU), Paul is living out that dream.

Abandoned coal mines cause various types of water pollution. Acid mine drainage is the most prevalent. Abandoned coal mines leave pits of highly acidic water that contain large amounts of heavy minerals. Over time, infiltrated groundwater and surface water from precipitation fill these pits to the brim. When the water spills over, harmful chemicals are carried into the surrounding water and soil. These chemicals can hurt humans, plants, and animals.