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Expert tells Bellefonte council work session Big Spring is fed by groundwater piracy; PFAS sites monitored nearby
Summary
At a Bellefonte work session presentation, Todd Giddings outlined geological evidence that Big Spring’s nearly constant flow is fed by groundwater conduits that cross watershed divides and noted two nearby PFAS contamination sites have been studied and are being managed.
Todd Giddings, introduced at the Baufrock Borough Council work session as a presenter, told residents May 20 that Big Spring’s unusually steady flow — roughly 15,000,000 gallons per day — comes from groundwater moving through solution conduits in the Gatesburg formation and along the Birmingham Thrust Fault, not from Lake Erie.
Giddings described how sandy soils and large underground solution conduits allow water that falls in an adjacent surface watershed to infiltrate, cross a surface-water divide underground and discharge at Big Spring. He showed contour maps derived from water levels measured in about 75 wells and described the process as “groundwater piracy,” where the fault-zone conduits drain groundwater from beneath a neighboring watershed to the spring pool.
The presentation matters because the spring supplies municipal water and is unusually constant year-round, said Giddings, who traced the headwater recharge area and explained why the spring’s flow remains steady even in dry periods: recharge is delayed and buffered by tortuous underground passages.
Giddings also identified two nearby PFAS-impacted groundwater locations: a former fire-training site at Penn State University and a site at University Park Airport. He said both sites are close to the watershed boundary and local studies indicate the impacted groundwater migrates toward Spring Creek. At the university site, he said a cleanup program includes extraction wells that pump contaminated groundwater, treat it to “pure standards,” and discharge treated water to Spring Creek. He added that discontinued use of certain firefighting foams at the airport and university sites has reduced ongoing releases.
In a question-and-answer exchange, Giddings said the amount of recharge occurring in higher-ground areas, such as Game Lands 176, likely dilutes PFAS concentrations so that they fall below detection limits when they reach Big Spring’s pool. He noted modern laboratory detection limits for these compounds are in parts per trillion. He also answered questions about the spring’s steady daily discharge, attributing it to delayed flow through conduits and frictional losses in tortuous passages that smooth short-term runoff variability.
Residents asked whether limestone bedrock can filter contaminants. Giddings replied that some contaminants are retained or transformed in deep soil layers and that improper timing of fertilizer application (for example, spreading on frozen ground before rapid melt) can concentrate nutrients in sinkholes and deliver them quickly to groundwater.
No formal action was taken at the work session; the presentation was informational and followed by public questions.
