Study: Quarry affecting creek

 

By Bill Devlin, Intelligencer, March 5, 2009

The results of the study were released at this week's supervisors meeting.

It was a data-filled 80-minute presentation that, at times, only Bill Nye the Science Guy could love. Yet, for those who packed the Solebury Township meeting room, the information was as simple as getting a glass of water.

An overflow crowd attended the Solebury Board of Supervisors meeting Tuesday to hear a report on water in the township, particularly, the Primrose Watershed that, according to the township-commissioned study, has been adversely affected by mining at the New Hope Crushed Stone Quarry.

Solebury resident Peter Brussock, a principal in an environmental firm, directed the 2008 study. He said the evidence collected shows that the quarry is in violation of the state Department of Environmental Protection's permit that says the quarry must take corrective actions when its mining has changed the groundwater significantly.

Brussock's presentation focused on the Primrose Creek, which flows directly through the quarry. He used a myriad of charts, maps and photographs to support the study's contention that mining has changed the flow of the creek both upstream and downstream from the quarry. It also has had adverse effects on the chemistry and biology of the Primrose Creek, including reducing the number of fish species.

According to Brussock, New Hope Crushed Stone pumps 2 million gallons of water from the quarry pit daily.

"Extensive groundwater withdrawals are required to keep the quarry pit dry," he said.

Brussock contends that those millions of gallons pumped from the pit create dry conditions upstream and create a sediment-filled creek downstream.

He recommended that the state limit the quarry discharge to 500,000 gallons a day, or just a quarter of what it now pumps. He said those involved with the township study will present the report to the Department of Environmental Protection.

"We are going to meet with the DEP over the next few weeks to compare our findings with their data," said Brussock.

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