BRADY TWP — The Slippery Rock Watershed Coalition celebrated 30 years of water quality improvement work on Saturday, Oct. 4, with a gathering where the work began three decades ago: Jennings Environmental Education Center.

Working with volunteers and money donated by the state and foundations, the coalition has built and maintains 22 passive water treatment systems in the headwaters of Slippery Rock Creek to remove acid mine drainage from abandoned coal mines.

“This is a volunteer group that started 30 years ago,” said coalition member Margaret Dunn, a retired geologist in the coal mining industry.

The coalition formed after the seal placed on the former Brydon mine in the 1970s “blew out” in 1989. The mine is in the area where Jennings sits today, Dunn said.

Money to build a passive t

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