A clean stream in York County, PA (photo by PStirk via Flickr Creative Commons license)

In case you missed it!

13 August 2025

This April Mountain Watershed Association (MWA) found lead and heavy metal pollution in Blue Hole Creek in Somerset County, a shocking discovery because the creek is an Exceptional Value waterway with clean water and abundant stream life.

As described in Paradise Lost: Heavy metal contamination (including lead) has been found in Blue Hole Creek, Forbes State Forest, Somerset County, Pennsylvania, MWA collected water samples at many locations along the creek and sent them in for testing. The lab found lead, cadmium, aluminum, zinc, and manganese and told MWA, “Our results indicate that the highest concentrations of lead were found near the Laurel Highlands Hiking Trail (LHHT).”

Laurel Highlands Hiking Trail sign, Aug 2010 (photo by sk via Flickr Creative Commons license)

At that sampling location the lead concentration was 30 times the lead found in Flint, Michigan in 2014! As MWA wrote:

This is very concerning due to the proximity of the Grindle Ridge Shelter Area, where many hikers spend the night. The water pumps at the shelter areas are known to have high iron concentrations, so hikers often use portable water filters at nearby streams for drinking water. Blue Hole Creek is one of the closest permanent water sources to the Grindle Ridge Shelters. Other hikers and several of our staff members have used this source while recreating on the LHHT in the last couple years.

Grindle Ridge Shelter area is circled on this portion of the Laurel Highlans Hiking Trail map.

part of the Laurel Highlands Hiking Trail map from DCNR. Grindle Ridge Shelter circled in the center

Apparently the state knew about problems in Blue Hole Creek for perhaps a year but no signs were posted by the state agencies. MWA writes in Blue Hole Creek: FAQ & Updates: “DEP wasn’t aware that hikers were using the creek for drinking water [since] the agency doesn’t recommend drinking surface water for any reason.” Uh oh!

Fortunately MWA’s discovery lead to an investigation and on 18 July MWA wrote“

The Solid Waste Dept at DEP has issued a Notice of Violation (NOV) to Highlands Sporting Clays for failure to comply with the Shooting Range Stewardship Best Management Practices, resulting in the contamination of Blue Hole Creek with Lead, Cadmium, Aluminum, Zinc, and Manganese.  …

Highlands Sporting Clays has been completing preliminary site remediation, which is permissible under the Shooting Range Stewardship plan. These efforts include removing the spent shot wads and clay pigeon debris from the course surface and applying lime and phosphorus to reduce the amount of toxins leaching into Blue Hole Creek.

Here’s how close Highlands Sporting Clays is to the Laurel Highlands Hiking Trail and Grindle Ridge Shelters. The map even shows Blue Hole Creek beginning near the sporting club.

Laurel Highlands Hiking Trail map closeup. Pink=lead pollution source Highland Sporting Clays (map from DCNR)

So where did the lead come from?

From spent bullets, the same source of lead that kills bald eagles and other birds of prey.