The Nanticoke Creek watershed (Luzerne County, Pennsylvania) has been heavily impacted by both surface and deep coal mining. Currently, almost all of the flow in the creek including both of its tributaries (Espy Run and Lueder`s Creek) disappear underground into the abandoned Truesale-Bliss (T-B) underground mine workings. The water flows out of the mines at the Askam Borehole as acid mine drainage (AMD) which comprises virtually all of the flow in the lower reaches of Nanticoke Creek. Outflow from this borehole ranges from approximately 8,500 m{sup 3}/day (2.2 MGD) to 52,000 m{sup 3}/day (14 MGD). Wetland treatment systems are being constructed to treat portions of the water that flows from the mine and efforts to restore surface flow in Nanticoke Creek are underway. As less water enters the minepool, less AMD will need to be treated. We present the water-balance model used specifically to estimate the behavior of the mine in response to various reclamation alternatives. Standard hydrologic models either are too complicated or they do not accurately simulate the interaction between the minepool and surface streams at the level of detail required by this study. The water-balance model accounts for rainfall, snowmelt, soil storage, evapotranspiration, minepool storage and themore » hydraulics of the borehole. Given historical climatic data, the model was able to approximate observed discharges from the Askam Borehole.« less
