2007 VA ASLA Awards

General Design Student - Project P.O.S.T.

Merit Award 

Project: P.O.S.T.
Nathaniel B. Brown, Virginia Tech

The program extended from the scale of the region, to the town of Norton and down to the tipple site in terms of recreational and cultural amenities. Furthermore, an environmental healing program was implemented once site analyses revealed serious water quality issues in the form of Acid Mine Drainage and large quantities of stormwater runoff directly entering the river. Also included in the environmental healing program is the remediation of a blanket covering of coal refuse, or fine coal particles, on site that are contributing to sediment loading in the river from erosion on site.

The foundation for reclaiming a mine-scarred site lies in remediating the environmental degradation caused by mining activities. For this project, the remediation of an Acid Mine Drainage (AMD) discharge was of utmost importance. Thus, a passive treatment system that utilizes a series of vertical flow anaerobic wetland cells and limestone drains is proposed. The intent for the treatment system is to artfully reveal the processes of raising the water's pH and removing iron particulates, which cause the brilliant orange colored water. This is significant because many aquatic life forms cannot survive in low pH waters and the iron particulates chemically attach themselves to various surfaces in a waterway, ultimately coating the stream bed and killing all biota. The treatment wetlands are positioned on the site along an abandoned rail bed and are shaped by the idea of tension between natural and built elements.