Most of its length is heavily impacted by past mining and the lower reaches are in an underground culvert.

[2] Coal Book joins the Lackawanna River 29.76 miles (47.89 km) upriver of its mouth.

[5] Stormwater pipes from Carbondale drain into Coal Brook in the reach where it flows through an underground culvert.

From Dundaff Road to a point 1.3 miles (2.1 km) downstream, the stream flows through areas of culm, waste rock, and strip pits from the old Coal Brook Colliery.

[7] Upon reaching the Carbondale Nursing Home, Coal Brook enters an underground culvert.

[5] Some reaches of Coal Brook have been entirely destroyed either by historic mining or by post-mining development.

Additionally, substantial deposits of culm and silts from mining operations line occur in the stream's vicinity.

[5] Coal Brook was entered into the Geographic Names Information System on August 2, 1979.

[5] In the early 2000s, the Lackawanna River Watershed Conservation Plan also recommended that Carbondale Township and Carbondale include protection of Coal Brook in their comprehensive plans, as well as their ordinances for land use, zoning, and subdivision.

The stream is on the Watershed Restoration Priority List of the Lackawanna River Corridor Association.

[6] At the headwaters of Coal Brook, the stream has a substantial riparian buffer consisting of native trees and understory.