PVC Plays Major Role in Award-Winning Reclamation Project

WASHINGTON, D.C., Nov. 9, 2007 (VNS) – Several hundred feet of vinyl sheet piling and more than 10,000 feet of PVC pipe played a crucial role in reclaiming an abandoned mine site in Pennsylvania that won the Interior Department’s 2007 Abandoned Mine Land Reclamation Award for excellence.

The winning project tapped into contaminated water in an abandoned mine in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, lowered the level of the pools inside, collected the discharged water, and directed it into a set of five settlement and processing ponds.

Beyond the settlement pools are treatment ponds containing limestone to neutralize the high acid content of the water. There, PVC pipe is laid out like a trunk line with many lateral lines to distribute the water and speed the neutralizing process, explained Jim Stoy, whose Somerset, PA-based company, Stoy Excavation, dug the ponds and laid the pipe.

The project eliminated environmental and safety hazards while creating useful land that enhanced educational and recreational opportunities, revitalized the community and improved economic development, according to the Interior Department’s citation.

Vinyl was the material of choice for the piping and the sheet piling because it “will not rust, rot, corrode, or decay,” said Stacy Acton, spokesperson for Atlanta-based Crane Materials International, maker of the ShoreGuard vinyl sheet pile used on the project. “Leakage is not a threat because ShoreGuard has a patented I-beam locking system to ensure watertight integrity,” he said.