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Mining Legacy Haunts Montana Town Ten Mile Creek in western Montana provides nearly 9 million gallons of water per day to Helena, the state capital. But the upper portion of the creek, a designated Superfund site, is polluted with a bevy of toxic pollutants that can cause myriad health problems ranging from skin and bone maladies to lung and kidney ailments and even brain damage. The U.S. EPA has provided one-third the amount of money requested by the regional EPA for cleanup of the creek this year, but next year funding may dry up altogether. The community of Rimini, Montana, sits in the middle of the Upper Ten Mile Creek Mining Area on 29,000 acres of contaminated land.(1) But the risk from this Superfund waste site, which the EPA added to the Superfund priority list in 1999,(2) extends far beyond the immediate area. If the site is not properly cleaned up-a prospect that depends in large part on the availability of Superfund money-it may threaten Helena's drinking water supply. In Rimini, residents and recreational visitors risk exposure to toxic water from their wells, toxic water from the creek where they swim and fish, toxic tailings when they hike and camp, and toxic dust in the air along a local road leading to recreational areas. Some residents' homes are built atop mining waste. Rimini residents use water from Ten Mile Creek in their households, but evidence of unsafe levels of arsenic, cadmium, and lead in the water forced the EPA to provide bottled water to 15 Rimini households in 2000. The agency feared that people who drank the water might develop skin lesions and/or liver damage.(3) Many of these residents have since chosen to install filtering systems for their wells in an effort to ensure a secure and healthy source of water. In 1980 a section of dirt road near Rimini washed out during a flood. It was subsequently filled using old tailings containing unsafe metals and chemicals from the mines. Dust from the road now contains unhealthy levels of arsenic and manganese,(4) forcing the EPA and others to keep it wet with water and magnesium chloride so as to reduce the risk of people inhaling contaminated dust. Even so, contaminants in the dust and soil(5) present a health risk to residents and recreationists in Upper Ten Mile Creek-especially to children who live and play there. Manganese, iron, and zinc add to the mix of toxic substances that pollute the waters of Ten Mile Creek.(6) Arsenic, which can be found in the water, soil, and potentially the air of Upper Ten Mile Creek, can cause redness and swelling of the skin, sore throat, irritated lungs, nausea and vomiting.(7) Manganese, which is present in high levels in both the water and the soil in the Upper Ten Mile Creek area, can injure the brain and impair body movements.(8) Cadmium and zinc pollution from the mine wastes in the creek can cause vomiting, diarrhea, and stomach cramps, and long term exposure can damage kidneys, lungs, and bones.(9) Ten Mile Creek provides 8.9 million gallons of water each day for use by Helena residents. Two wells near Rimini collect water from the creek for use in Helena,(10) and a majority of people in the Helena area draw their water from sources within the Upper Ten Mile Creek watershed. More than 53,000 people in the area depend on Ten Mile Creek for their water supply.(11) Ten Mile Creek water receives treatment before it reaches Helena residents, but it is not specifically treated for heavy metals.(12) According to Kathy Moore, the administrator of the Lewis and Clark County Water Protection District, "Water quality in Upper Ten Mile Creek can be very poor, toxic to life in some areas."(13) Continued federal funding for cleanup of the site is threatened. The EPA regional office asked for $3.9 million for cleanup efforts this year. Initially, the U.S. EPA provided no funds at all, but subsequently reallocated $1.3 million of unused funds from other sites.(14) "Stopping cleanup in the Ten Mile drainage [area] could cause major problems for the drinking water supply used by the city of Helena and...the Helena Valley," says Administrator Moore. "We would be faced once again with a potential threat to human health from contaminated water from years of mining."15 This year the state got a reprieve when at least some funding was obtained to continue the cleanup of Upper Ten Mile Creek. But next year the toxins will still be around; funding might not. Up to Top HOME | Email Signup | About Us | Contact Us | Terms of Use | © 2008 Sierra Club |
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