Today, acidic water and heavy metals from mines slowly leach into groundwater, lakes and streams. Corrosive water destroys aquatic ecosystems. Fish – the ones that don’t die – become loaded with arsenic or mercury. People swim in contaminated lakes. They hike over contaminated soil, breathing in dust laced with lead and arsenic. There are about 500,000 abandoned mines in the U.S., contaminating tens of thousands of miles of waterways..
The worst get federal Superfund money for cleanup. The rest are left to the states, private organizations and nonprofit conservation groups to clean up. The waste site sits untouched, and acid continues to drain into nearby water.
The proposals to encourage clean up have failed for various reasons. Mostly, according to Steve Moyer of the water conservation group Trout Unlimited, it’s that no one really cares.But for locals living near abandoned mines, it is a priority. In the Sierra Nevada, which provides 60 percent of California’s water, mercury from the days of the gold rush co flowing into the Sacramento River. ”
In many cases, what happens when a group tries to clean up contaminated water is that it’ll install a sort of treatment system downstream from where contamination flows in. The system filters the toxic water and releases water that’s, say, 90 percent cleaner. But under the Clean Water Act, the cleanup group is considered responsible for the 10 percent of contamination that’s left. That puts the group at legal risk – it could be considered a polluter under the law.
In 2012, the Environmental Protection Agency issued a clarification of protections for cleanup groups. But Leon Szeptycki, a lawyer at Stanford University specializing in water quality and restoration, said the EPA guidance doesn’t include enough detail.
One of the biggest concerns is how long a group would be on the hook after installing a treatment system, he said. Many good Samaritans are local groups with limited funding. They may have the money to install a treatment system, but not necessarily to maintain it for decades to come. At what point can the group walk away? Is it liable for poor-quality water if the system breaks down in 10 years?
This uncertainty in the memo leaves organizations hesitant to test the policies. So nothing gets done.
