Pollution Engineering - September 2008 - (Page 35)

completed in 1908, sent tons of arsenic, copper and other heavy metals into the river. AUTHORS: Can you describe some of The last stop for most of the waste, though, was at this dam. Six million cubic your practices in field work using XRF? yards of mine waste gathered behind it and backed up on the flood plain. In 1981, officials discovered that water backed up behind the dam had GLANZMAN: After into nearby groundwater and contaminated wells in the forced the arsenic doing a reconnaissance of the site, Milltown, home to several dozen residents. The area was listed settlement of we typically gather soil samples to look at likely areas of contamias a federal Superfund site in 1983. nants.Although the sediment has very low levels of arsenic, the arsenic has Our goal is to do the site survey as fast leached into the groundwaterconsisand as completely as possible, over decades. Since last October, workers tenthave beenrequirements. We may fly train, hauling it 90 miles up river with the loading waste on a 45-car each day gather remote called Opportunity and dumping it into an over an area toto a small townsensing data existing site. Remote covering thewaste site.” sensing process- and depth of the tailings. Arsenic averaged 7,107 ppm in Tailings Area 1; 4,866 ppm in Topography Affects Contamination Tailings Area 2, to 436 ppm New York Times article: “Since the 1860s, when According 7, a recent in Tailings Area 3, 5,mining began, mineral- and and 3,601 580 ppm in Tailings Area 5; arsenic-laden waste from the Butte mines 120 miles south, atop the Continental lead ppm in Tailings Area 6. We also found Divide, has flowed into the headwaters of andthe Clark Fork. (The waste comes from naturally occurring arsenic in the ore mercury, which are CERCLA hazardous minerals thatbut they did not exceed area over the years.) substances, have been mined in the Flooding, especially a for the site. the risk management criteriaferocious incident months after the dam was ing produces a map of surface mineralogy Jim Robbins, Montana Dam Is Breached, Slowly, to Restore a Superfund Site, The thatNew thenTimes, May guide work to site is York used to 27, 2008. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/27/science/27dam.html?pagewanted=1&_ locations containing mine wastes that are r=2&sq=Milltown%20Dam&st=nyt&scp=1&adxnnlx=1213729892-Ryej5IXsT4pcU3FV0mImIQ leaching metals and metalloids into the Aerial view of Clark Fork river showing contaminated slickens with artist rendition of the river showing pollution from bank erosion and runoff. See us at WEFTEC Hall B, Booth #27141 PLE09084NEPT.indd 1 8/11/08 11:15:16 35 SEPTEMBER2008 www.pollutionengineering.com AM http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/27/science/27dam.html?pagewanted=1&_r=2&sq=Milltown%20Dam&st=nyt&scp=1&adxnnlx=1213729892-Ryej5lXsT4pcU3FV0mlmlQ http://www.neptune1.com http://www.neptune1.com http://www.pollutionengineering.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Pollution Engineering - September 2008

Pollution Engineering - September 2008 Contents The Editor’s Desk Reader Comments EnviroNews PE Events Legal Lookout Environmental Management The Green Files Guest Dialog 500-Year Storm Control How Do You Clean Up 100 Years of Pollution? SPCC: Don’t Wait and See The Next Wave in Air Purification An Invitation to the Windy City Flood Control Infrastructure Saves ‘Green’ Puts a New Spin on Pest Control Instrumentation Products Material Safety and Storage Equipment PE Products Classified Marketplace Advertisers Index State Rules

Pollution Engineering - September 2008

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.