ir Farming. Saturday. April 21.1973
Plant Could Reclaim Acid Mine Waters
A plant that grows like wildfire
in acid water is being groomed to
ignite a chain of life in acid
streams.
Scientists at The Pennsylvania
State University believe it might
help rehabilitate some of the 6000
miles of U.S. waterways that
have become flowing deserts as a
result of acid mine drainage.
Game fishing in acid streams
may even be an outcome.
The plant, a bright-green reed,
is a relative of the Biblical
papyrus. It has been observed in
acid streams in mats as large as
a putting green and almost as
pure.
“In most of these underwater
oases,” says Dr, Richard
Wagner, assistant professor of
botany at Penn State, “not one
weed is to be found in a whole
colony of Eleocharis acicularis.
For even weeds will not grow in
acid water.”
But Eleocharis (pronounced:
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eely-occris, also called a needle
rush) does grow. Why it grows is
stUl a mystery, but Wagner and
graduate assistant Paul
Rothrock have now established at
least one of its requirements*
lazy water
“Eleocharis,” says Rothrock,
“is found only in quiet pools,
backwash areas, or where there
is only a slight downhill grade to
a stream bed.”
Hurricane Agnes undoubtedly
wiped out flourishing underwater
swards of this plant, and each
winter ice floes take their toll.
But the plant has a remarkable
ability to spring back to life. Its
seeds germinate with extreme
rapidity.
“In the laboratory,” says
Wagner, “we have seen shoots
emerge from seed in less than a
week.”
Wagner believes the plant
might be used as a starter crop, a
base on which micro-organisms,
algae, and insects might take
hold.
“Ultimately,” says Wagner,
“these might serve as food for
certain acid-tolerant fish, such as
the black bullhead.”
Wagners idea is that an
Eleocharis population explosion
might be systematically fostered
in acid streams. The plant does
lend itself to transplantation:
“Divots removed from a mat
easily take hold if replanted
where conditions are favorable,”
reports Rothrock. And the Penn
State studies have shown the
needle rush to be adaptable to
extremes of both cold and heat.
An earlier study at Penn State
by graduate student John Kroh
(1970) showed that Eleocharis
flourished in acid streams for the
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very reason that most other
living things do not: strip mining
upstream, where acids are
generated, also generates large
amounts of silt.
This fine sediment is ap
parently required by Eleocbaris
as a growing base.
Like deserts, acid streams are
popularly supposed to be sterile.
The supposition in both cases is
incorrect. Though not exactly
teeming with life, acidic streams
do contain certain species of
living things:
In 1939, some thirty-eight
species of micro-organisms were
identified by a West Virginia
scientist as residents of acid
waters.
,One bacterium that actually
feeds on acid is being used by
Penn State mine drainage ex
perts to remove acid from the
water.
Several plants, the burr reed,
for one, are found in scattered
stands on acid streams, as are
various forms of algae.
In addition to the black
bullhead, the sunfish, white
sucker and creek chubb have
been known to inhabit acid
streams.
So, the ingredients of a food
chain are there. If large carpets
I ( f BULK BLENDS 1
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of Eleocharis could be cultivated
in quiet places on a stream those
ingredients might come together
and provide a kind of granary for
game fi ’■<
“Thi .esearch,” cautions
Wagne* ‘should not lull anyone
into a false sense of security
about acid mine drainage. Steps
still need to be taken in mining
operations to prevent such
drainage from forming, and
chemical and other techniques
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need to be used on-stream to
neutralize adds.
“But partial rehabilitation by
plants like Eleocbaris is a
possibility, and the scope of acid
mine drainage-in Pennsylvania
alone four and a half billion
gallons of acid water is generated
every day-is such that we can't
afford to ignore any possibility.”
One bonus from Eleocbaris has
already been observed, at least
by Paul Rothrock.
“To come upon a backwash
where orangy-red-stained rock
provides the backdrop for a lush
carpet of lime-green vegetation is
a breathtaking experience, and
one you can’t expect to find
anywhere but in an add stream.”
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