Another clean water report
For the fifth year in a row, the Sanford Lab?s water treatment plant received high marks from the independent contractor that monitors water quality in Whitewood Creek.
The March 2013 report from GEI Consultants Inc. is based on sampling done last summer. ?It takes that long to analyze the data,? Sanford Lab Environmental Manager John Scheetz said.
The consultants examined habitat conditions and measured populations of fish and smaller aquatic life, such as macroinvertebrates (insects, crustaceans, mollusks, arachnids and the like) and periphytons (algae and certain kinds of microbes). GEI reported that water downstream of the Sanford Lab?s outfall ?had healthier invertebrate and periphyton communities, indicating that not only are there no negative effects from discharge, but (there are) potential positive effects from increased stream flow and water quality.?
Sanford Lab discharges its water directly into Gold Run Creek, which joins Whitewood Creek within a few hundred yards. Gold Run Creek does not have enough water flow to support fish, Scheetz said, but Whitewood Creek is home to brown trout. GEI reported that Whitewood Creek?s habitats also were healthier below Gold Run Creek.
In other words, the lab is actually improving the water quality in the stream, probably through increased flow.
Water treatment at Sanford Lab is a big job. In addition to treating water from underground?mostly removing iron?the plant also treats water from the Grizzly Gulch tailings impoundment, which is still owned by Homestake. The treatment plant removes trace amounts of ammonia from that water. Sanford Lab has treated 3.85 billion gallons of water since June 2008?2.2 billion gallons from underground and 1.65 billion gallons from Grizzly Gulch. Currently the plant is treating 400 gallons per minute from each source. The water level underground has been pumped down from a high-water mark 4,530 feet underground down to about 5,900 feet underground, where the level is being maintained pending future requests for deeper lab space.
?Our six water treatment plant operators do an excellent job,? Scheetz said. ?This is to their credit.? Running the plant, he said, is ?a balancing act.? In addition to blending water to maintain low temperatures and low concentrations of dissolved solids, operators also try to restrict pumping from underground to nighttime hours, when electricity is cheapest. ?They save us a lot of money,? Scheetz said.
The treatment plant operators are Troy Derby, Duane Ehnes, Pat Hasson, David Johnson, Ken Noren and Jackson Pahl.