Lyons Run acid mine drainage project in Murrysville hits home for Blairsville contractor

Cleaning the acid mine drainage in Murrysville’s Lyons Run is a personal endeavor for Matt Curry, president of Blairsville construction contractor Curry & Kepple.

“I grew up on School Road South. I rode my bike back there all the time, and my elementary and middle school buses ran right past,” he said.

Curry & Kepple was awarded a $1.6 million low bid to handle the construction of a series of ponds containing limestone beds to help clean heavy metals present in acid mine drainage that is leaching into the stream. The Lyons Run Watershed drains nearly 9 square miles of land along more than 17 miles of streams.

Doing the project correctly requires technical knowledge, Curry said.

“Since we’re working so closely to wetlands, being careful about that is very important,” he said. “Right now, we have an ongoing contract with a mine owner who’s trying to develop land in Allegheny County where they’re running into some acid mine drainage issues.”

Each drainage scenario is handled on a case-by-case basis, as there is no one-size-fits-all solution, he said.

“They’re a big problem, and the solutions are pretty intricate,” Curry said. “Unfortunately, you just had a lot of poor management practices when these mines were operational 60 or 70 years ago.”

The project will use a series of ponds containing limestone beds, which impart alkalinity to the water and neutralize its acidity, according to project designers Civil & Environmental Consultants. Affected water is cleaned twice in sequence through the limestone beds before being sent through a natural filter, a series of constructed wetlands.

The company is awaiting an official notice to proceed, but Curry said municipal officials are excited to get it started.

“They definitely want to get it going as soon as possible,” he said.