South Fayette Conservation Group

South Fayette Conservation Group is a non-profit organization registered in SAM.gov as a corporate entity eligible to receive federal grant awards. It received a $100,000 cooperative agreement from the Department of the Interior's Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement under the Not-for-Profit AMD Reclamation program in 2022. The funding supports continued efforts by the group to remediate acid mine drainage in Pennsylvania's Chartiers Creek watershed through stream sealing projects along Fishing Run.

Through this award and related sub-awards from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, South Fayette Conservation Group is conducting construction work to install impermeable membranes in streambeds to prevent water loss into abandoned mines. This includes minor temporary construction to remove substrate, add a membrane liner layer, and replace the substrate. The goal is to demonstrate progress toward long-term restoration of water quality and a diverse biological community in the watershed impacted by acid mine drainage from pre-1977 coal mining operations. Additionally, South Fayette Conservation Group will oversee the design and construction of a major $8 million acid mine drainage active treatment plant along State Route 50. This plant will pump out mine pool water, treat it using oxidation, chemical addition, and clarification to remove metals and iron pollution, and discharge the treated water into Millers Run, a tributary of Chartiers Creek.