Acid mine drainage – AMD – keeps coming up in conversations across the H2O Water Network. And that is no surprise. For communities in the Upper Ohio River Basin, AMD is not a historical footnote. It is an active challenge affecting streams, drinking water sources, and the health of watersheds across western Pennsylvania, eastern Ohio, and West Virginia.
We have heard from many of you that AMD is a priority issue. Now we want to hear more – specifically, from you.
What Is Acid Mine Drainage?
AMD occurs when water flows over or through sulfur-bearing materials – typically exposed coal or rock from mining operations – and produces sulfuric acid. That acidic water then drains into nearby streams, rivers, and groundwater, lowering pH levels and releasing heavy metals like iron, aluminum, and manganese. The result: orange-stained streams, dead aquatic life, and water that is unsafe for drinking, recreation, or agriculture.
The Upper Ohio River Basin sits in the heart of Appalachian coal country. Thousands of abandoned mine sites across the region continue to leach AMD into local waterways – many of them untreated and largely forgotten.
What H2O Wants to Know
We are gathering input from our partner network to better understand what AMD support looks like on the ground. Here is what we are asking:
- What questions do you have about AMD? Whether you are just getting started or have been working on AMD issues for years, tell us where your knowledge gaps are.
- Are you looking for education and training? Let us know what kinds of resources or workshops would be most useful for your organization or community.
- How are you funding AMD work? Funding is always a challenge. If you are actively pursuing grants or other funding sources for AMD remediation or monitoring, we want to hear your strategy. And if you have secured funding – what worked? Share your tips with the network.
- What AMD issues are you dealing with right now? Every watershed is different. Tell us what you are seeing on the ground.
Why This Matters
H2O Water Network exists to connect the people doing this work across the region – to share what is working, identify shared challenges, and build collective capacity. AMD is too big and too widespread a problem for any single organization to tackle alone.
The more we hear from partners about what they need and what they know, the better we can connect the right resources, expertise, and funding opportunities to the right people. That is the network working the way it should.
Send Us Your AMD Issues and Concerns
Reach out directly to H2O Water Network President John Detisch at john@h2owaternetwork.org. Whether you have a specific question, a funding tip to share, or just want to flag that AMD is an urgent issue in your watershed – we want to hear from you.
This is your network. Let’s put it to work on AMD.
