From The Pueblo Chieftain (Tracy Harmon):
Steve Tarlton, state health department radiation control program manager, wanted to assure those attending a public meeting Wednesday that both surface water and groundwater is prevented from moving off the mill site by an earthen dam and a pumpback system located between the mill site and the Lincoln Park neighborhood. He said no new contamination is leaving the site.
Cotter Corp.’s license will expire in early 2012, so company officials must submit a renewal application by the end of this year. State health officials also want a better look at the “legacy” contamination in the neighboring Lincoln Park community, which became part of the Superfund cleanup site in 1984 after the 1958 to 1979 use of unlined tailings impoundments allowed uranium and molybdenum contamination to seep into the groundwater.
“Ten new wells will be drilled in Lincoln Park and we will examine test results to try to get good data to define the edges of the contamination plume,” Ethington said. The hydrology of the area is controlled by the leaking of irrigation ditches, but one irrigation ditch — the Pump Ditch — may be blocking contamination from escaping the Lincoln Park neighborhood. “I believe it is like a dam that is obstructing movement,” Ethington explained, pointing out that officials want to figure out how to allow the contamination to get out of the Lincoln Park neighborhood.
“A hundred years down the line what is that (Arkansas) river going to be like? And a thousand years from now people will be saying what in the hell were those guys thinking,” asked Tony Belaski, a local resident.
“I have no answer for how long it will take to get to the river. We thought it would be diluted by now — that is something we need to figure out,” Tarlton said. Tarlton said the diluting power of the Arkansas River will be much more powerful than the springs and runoff affecting groundwater in Lincoln Park.
Tarlton said officials will look for alternatives to capture groundwater sooner at the mill site before it flows away and becomes more difficult to deal with. Among alternatives that will be considered are trenching, a new evaporation pond and a water treatment facility which would be costly, Tarlton said. “All the alternatives will be evaluated during the license renewal,” Tarlton said…
State health officials said there will be several opportunities for the public to comment during meetings throughout the license renewal process. The process also will include an environmental impact assessment, Tarlton said…
And finally, state officials want to investigate the potential source of a separate groundwater plume found under the Shadow Hills Golf Course which sits just south of the mill site. “That plume only has uranium in it so it is probably a different source. It is the kind of material derived more from an ore rather than the processing of ore,” Ethington explained.
More Lincoln Park/Cotter Mill superfund site coverage here and here.