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John Hollenhorst ReportingSome very contaminated water will soon become a source of drinking water for people in the Salt Lake Valley, but don't worry, it makes sense. A fancy new treatment plant is supposed to make it safe and tasty for drinking.
If the Kennecott lagoons look kind of nasty, believe it or not, they're part of the solution to a huge environmental problem. The ponds are sealed with plastic liners to contain the copper mine's wastewater.
Years ago, poorly contained ponds and mine dumps leaked vast amounts of contaminated water. It spoiled 50 square miles of a groundwater aquifer that underlies the Salt Lake Valley. It's an invisible plume of pollution lying under the growing suburbs of the Salt Lake Valley.
Paula Doughty, Kennecott: "Historic contamination that occurred when people didn't know exactly what was occurring with the waste and the water that they were managing."
Now VIP's are getting guided tours of the state's first big-scale reverse-osmosis plant. It takes water from deep underground and cleans it up to make it drinkable.
Paula Doughty: "We're just thrilled to reach this milestone and get the water out there."
In a few weeks, the water will start meeting the drinking water needs of 14,000 people. The treatment plant will crank out 2400 gallons a minute, more than 3 million gallons a day, for drinking water in West Jordan, South Jordan, Riverton and Herriman.
Dr. Dianne Nielson, Utah Dir. of Environmental Quality: "It's a huge deal. This is water that the communities needed to rely on as they grew and developed. And I think that everybody is on the winning side in this solution."
Overall, cleanup is costing a third of a billion dollars. Kennecott is paying big time for the mistakes of the past. Historically, Kennecott was not the only contributor to the pollution; numerous companies mined and processed ores in the area, starting in the 1870's.
