Berkeley Pit - Water Treatment Plan

Berkeley Pit: Plan to treat pit water must be ready by 2019

Water contaminated with mine waste has been filling up the Berkeley Pit since open-pit mining by Atlantic Richfield ended in 1982.

Experts predict that the pit water will hit that critical level by 2023.

Under the consent decree with the EPA, Atlantic Richfield has until 2019 to have the Horse Bend Water Treatment plant at Montana Resources ready to treat and stop the rising water.

"The record of decision required that we capture this water, so it no longer discharges into the Berkeley Pit," Greene said.

The Horseshoe Bend plant is designed to do the job. It was built 11 years ago and cleans the current mine waste water up to EPA standards and is reused in the plant.

The plant will have to be upgraded by 2021 to treat the water that's going into the Berkeley Pit.

Montana Resources officials are confident in this water treatment plant.

"There are plants just like this treating water of worse chemistry than the Berkeley Pit at higher flow rates to surface water quality standards right now, so it can be done," said Mark Thompson of Montana Resources.

A pool of contaminated water is already being cleaned at the Horseshoe Bend water treatment facility, designed to handle up to seven million gallons of water a day.

This is the same facility that will handle treating the water in the Berkeley Pit.

"The technology is well-proven, it's been used to treat mine-affected waters for decades successfully at many, many sites," Thompson said.

The treated water will be reused in the plant and some discharged into Silver Bow Creek.

Source: KXLH

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