 |
| Mayer Ranch Passive Treatment System 2013 |
CEES professors Robert
W. Nairn and Robert C. Knox along with OU biology professor William J. Matthews
were recently awarded a $1.6M grant from the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality for design, construction and initial evaluation of a
full-scale passive treatment system to address mine drainage contamination in
Ottawa County, Oklahoma. This project is
an outgrowth of the success of the first and only full-scale passive treatment
system implemented in the Tri-State Lead-Zinc Mining District and Tar Creek
Superfund Site, completed in 2008 by the OU Center for Restoration of Ecosystems and Watersheds. The Mayer Ranch passive
treatment system has successfully
addressed metal-contaminated flows of abandoned mine waters for nearly six
years. Elevated iron, zinc, lead,
cadmium and arsenic concentrations are decreased in a specifically-designed
series of ponds, wetlands, and bioreactors.
 |
| Collecting data at the MRPTS |
The overall goal of
the new project is to continue to "unlock the black box" of passive
treatment by understanding and exploiting specific biogeochemical
processes. The objectives are to
demonstrate improvement in mine drainage water quality prior to discharge to
the receiving waters, evaluate ecosystem development in the system itself, and
document biogeochemical and ecological changes in the receiving waters. The system will address a
major source of mine water discharging to a small first-order tributary to Tar
Creek in Commerce, Oklahoma. Since
implementation of the first system, limited stream water quality improvement
and ecological recovery (e.g., fish community development) have been
documented. The new system will be designed
to i) effectively remove iron via aerobic processes, concurrently removing some
trace metals via sorption or co-precipitation and degassing carbon dioxide, ii)
sequester zinc, lead and cadmium via reductive mechanisms in vertical flow
bioreactor substrates, iii) re-aerate the water to strip hydrogen sulfide and
add oxygen and iv) polish the waters (removal of remaining dissolved and
suspended solids) before final discharge.
Off-the-grid aeration devices for initial oxidation process units, as
well as for the re-aeration process unit, are proposed. Given the proximity of the proposed treatment
system to schools, residential areas and commercial districts, the system will
be designed not only as a functioning ecologically engineered treatment system,
but as an aesthetically pleasing addition to the local landscape.
