The Allegheny Land Trust today will officially open the 80-acre Wingfield Pines Conservation Area, containing an innovative mine water discharge treatment facility in Upper St. Clair and South Fayette.

The treatment system, on 20 acres of the conservation area, uses five ponds arranged like spokes in a wheel and an aeration fountain powered by pressure from the abandoned Bridgeville Mine, closed in the early 1950s, to more effectively treat 1,200 gallons of mine water a minute. It also removes 43 tons of iron a year from the mine drainage into Chartiers Creek, a tributary of the Ohio River.

"Approximately 99 percent of the iron is removed from the discharge and people standing in the middle of the wheel can see the water coming in bright orange and then leaving crystal clear on the other side," said Bob Hedin, of Hedin Environmental in Mt. Lebanon, who designed the system built by Quality Aggregates Inc.

Ecological education stations and a pedestrian boardwalk through wetlands containing native plants, birds and even a family of beavers also are part of the new $1.2 million conservation area. Money for the project came from local foundations, the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, the state Department of Environmental Protection's Bureau of Abandoned Mine Reclamation and the federal Office of Surface Mining.

"The ... system was designed to provide a unique experience for the public to visit and learn about how nature can heal one of the most visible scars of our industrial heritage -- abandoned mine drainage," said Roy Kraynyk, Allegheny Land Trust executive director. "ALT is committed to preserving lands such as Wingfield Pines that provide the greatest public benefit -- in this case a cleaner Chartiers Creek."

At today's ceremony, scheduled from 10 a.m. to noon, U.S. Rep. Tim Murphy, R-Upper St. Clair, will turn the main valve to symbolically start the treatment system, which has been operating since last fall.

Wingfield Pines is located at 1550 Mayview Road in Upper St. Clair, off the Bridgeville exit of Interstate 79. For more information about the conservation area, visit the website www.alleghenylandtrust.org.

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