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WILKES-BARRE &mdash; Megan Stachowiak, Research Analyst at The Institute for Public Policy and Economic Development at Wilkes University, last week said many of the region&rsquo;s critical environmental challenges relate to its industrial past.
				&ldquo;Statewide statistics on recycled materials have been inconsistent in recent years, and no new data was available in time for inclusion in this year&rsquo;s report,&rdquo; Stachowiak said, &ldquo;The most recent data here is from 2016. At that time, recycled tonnage varied significantly in both counties.&rdquo;
				Teri Ooms, executive director at The Institute, said the Indicators 2020 Report on the region&rsquo;s environment focuses on several key indicators, including recycling, waste management, brownfields and abandoned mine lands, and air and water quality.
				Ooms said Stachowiak is a senior staff member at The Institute.
				Stachowiak said the total tonnage of Lackawanna County&rsquo;s recycled material, as a percentage of the statewide total, spiked in 2014 and remained disproportionately high in the years since, accounting for about 30 percent of all recycled materials statewide in 2015 and 2016.
				She said in 2014, DEP attributed this anomaly to large amounts of materials recycled from the University of Scranton&rsquo;s demolition of the former YWCA building and construction of Leahy Hall.
				Luzerne County has accounted for an average of two to three percent of the total statewide tonnage, roughly approximating its share of the statewide population, Stachowiak said.
				Common categories
				Among common categories of household materials, both counties and the Commonwealth as a whole increased the amount of single-stream recycled materials generated between 2015 and 2016.
				Both Luzerne and Lackawanna counties also saw increases in metals recycled. Lackawanna County saw growth in tonnage of plastics and residential organics as well. Among these selected categories, the two counties comprised about five percent of the statewide total in each of the two years.
				&ldquo;The amount of waste generated in both counties has generally followed an increasing trend,&rdquo; Stachowiak said. &ldquo;In 2019, Luzerne County generated more than 345,000 tons of waste &mdash; a substantial increase from the prior year.&rdquo;
				Stachowiak said Lackawanna County generated over 305,000 tons &mdash; a decrease from the prior year, but still higher than all other years analyzed.
				Municipal waste was the largest component of all waste generated in both counties, she said. Statewide data on recycled materials has been tabulated inconsistently, and the most recent data is from 2016. However, in that year, the two counties accounted for over 72,000 pounds of single-stream, plastic, metal, glass, and organics recyclable material &mdash; about five percent of the statewide total.
				Lingering effects
				&ldquo;The lingering effects of coal mining and other heavy industries include contaminated brownfield sites, coal refuse sites, mine subsidence, mine fires, and acid mine drainage,&rdquo; Stachowiak said. &ldquo;Some of these issues are difficult to quantify or measure.&rdquo;
				In 2020, Stachowiak said 33 sites in the region were designated under either the statewide (HSCA) or federal (CERCLA) programs for remediation.
				&ldquo;Cleanup of these sensitive sites, which often involve bankrupt owners, abandoned facilities, or facilities where hazardous materials have been improperly disposed, is an important step in preventing further harm and facilitating return to productive use,: Stachowiak said. &ldquo;The region is also home to seven percent of Pennsylvania&rsquo;s abandoned mine land sites and 27 percent of its anthracite coal refuse-producing sites.&rdquo;
				Stachowiak said the Earth Conservancy, a non-profit organization in Luzerne County that focuses on reclamation and revitalization, has been around for nearly two decades and stands out as a major player in redeveloping land for business and recreational purposes.
				Air quality
				The Air Quality Index (AQI) is used to measure air quality.
				&ldquo;AQI reads five different pollutants to assess the safety of the nation&rsquo;s air quality,&rdquo; Stachowiak said. &ldquo;They are ground level ozone (smog), particle pollution, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen dioxide. The overall AQI is the highest AQI of any of the five individual pollutants.&rdquo;
				Stachowiak said scores of 0 to 50 are considered good air quality, 51 to 100 are considered moderate, 101 to 150 are considered unhealthy to sensitive groups, 151 to 200 are considered unhealthy to everyone, 201 to 300 are considered very unhealthy, and scores above 301 are considered hazardous for all people.
				&ldquo;Monitoring stations in Lackawanna and Luzerne Counties have generally reported AQI ratings in the &lsquo;good&rsquo; range,&rdquo; Stachowiak said. &ldquo;AQI data changes daily and is available in real time from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection&rsquo;s Bureau of Air Quality.&rdquo;
				Users can visit the website for current data. Annual data, including the number of unhealthy air quality days and the median AQI for the calendar year, is collected from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
				Over the past several years, Stachowiak said Lackawanna and Luzerne counties have reported no unhealthy AQI days. The 2019 median AQI for Lackawanna County was 35, and 34 for Luzerne County.
				&ldquo;This represents a slight decline in quality for both counties from the prior year, and though they remain in the &lsquo;good&rsquo; range, they are 20 percent lower than they were in 2000,&rdquo; Stachowiak said.
				Water quality
				Water quality monitoring is conducted at several sites in the region. One site &mdash; the Susquehanna River at Wilkes-Barre, which is monitored by the Chesapeake Bay Program &mdash; has consistent and regular data necessary for inclusion in this report.
				Two key parameters of water quality (pH, which is commonly used to measure acidity in water, and total dissolved solids) were analyzed. The vast majority of Lackawanna and Luzerne Counties are within the Chesapeake Bay Watershed.
				Stachowiak said a pH of seven represents a neutral measurement. A value greater than seven indicates basic or alkaline conditions, and values less than seven indicate acidic conditions.
				The pH of natural waters is between 6.0 and 8.5. Any values less than 4.5 and above 9.5 tend to be severely damaging to ecosystems.
				&ldquo;The Susquehanna River tested as 7.32 pH most recently, or slightly less acidic and more alkaline than neutral water,&rdquo; Stachowiak said. &ldquo;This year&rsquo;s reading is a decrease from previous measurements, which had averaged 7.66 over the previous five years.&rdquo;
				Stachowiak said the concentration of total dissolved solids (TDS) is a measure of the amount of dissolved materials in water. These materials include sodium, calcium, magnesium, and others.
				Fresh water usually has TDS levels between 0 and 1,000 mg/L, dependent on the geography and attributing factors in the region. Values over 500 mg/L are considered elevated and can be unsuitable for drinking or household use.
				Although TDS is not considered a primary pollutant, water with a high TDS concentration may indicate elevated levels of ions such as aluminum, arsenic, copper, lead, nitrate, and others that do pose health concerns.
				&ldquo;Since 2013, TDS levels in the Susquehanna River have consistently been below 200 mg/L, and in 2018 the annual average fell to the lowest level in five years,&rdquo; Stachowiak said.

Region’s critical environmental challenges relate to its industrial past