Sandy Run Landfill

Bedford County, PA

ARM aquatic biologists conduct biennial benthic macroinvertebrate assessments for Sandy Run, a receiving stream to Sandy Run Landfill, in order to monitor water quality and satisfy PADEP permit conditions. The project is located in Broadtop Township, Bedford County, Pennsylvania and within the Chesapeake Bay watershed.

Project Highlights

ARM aquatic biologists have been monitoring the water quality of Sandy Run since 2007 to evaluate the effects of the Sandy Run Landfill on surface water quality.
The assessment uses the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection’s most current technical guidance and approved methods, including most recently Assessment Methodology for Rivers and Streams (PADEP 2018) and Water Quality Monitoring Protocols for Streams and Rivers (PADEP 2018). The assessment components include a benthic macroinvertebrate survey, in-situ water chemistry analysis, and habitat characterization at three sample locations (upper, middle and lower) on Sandy Run.
The findings indicated that stream quality has been maintained at the two downstream stations, and water quality has not deteriorated. The benthic community data from the three stations, reveal that the communities at these three stations consist of a well-diversified community of largely pollution-sensitive taxa with some moderately pollution sensitive taxa.
A Total Maximum Daily Load was developed in 2003 for the entire length of Sandy Run as the stream was not attaining its designated aquatic life use, as Warm Water Fishes. Over the years the water quality of Sandy Run has improved. In 2018, PADEP’s Integrated Water Quality Monitoring and Assessment Report noted that Sandy Run was tentatively attaining its use for a portion of the stream that included the middle and upper stations.