Engineers with the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality are going to redirect about 800 feet of the Hassayampa River in Yavapai County.
It’s an effort to dry out a pile of saturated mining waste, which is in danger of collapsing and falling into the river.
The department plans to install a pipeline to move the river away from the Senator Mine. They’re also going to put in underground pipes to help drain water away from the pile of mine waste, or “tailings.”
Josephine Maressa is with ADEQ. She said the problem started when one of the private landowners plugged a horizontal mine shaft, which moved the water toward the waste.
“That’s dangerous because the contamination that occurs from the runoff of the water, that carries heavy pollutants," she said. "So that endangers not only the wildlife but the residents downstream as well.
Lead and other metals are present in the waste. The river already has some of those pollutants in it, but ADEQ wants to make sure the heavier concentration of tailings doesn’t make it worse.
