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National Information |
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Superfund Program
Summitville Mine
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Site Type: Active NPL City: Del Norte County: Rio Grande Zip Code: 81132 EPA ID#: COD983778432 Site ID#: 0801194 Site Aliases: Summitville Consolidated Mine Congressional District(s): 03 |
State of Colorado Summitville Mine Web site
Site Description
The Summitville Mine site is located 25 miles south of Del Norte, Colorado at an elevation of 11,500 feet above sea level in the San Juan Mountains of southwestern Colorado. The mine site is situated south of Wightman Fork, a tributary of the Alamosa River, about two miles east of the Continental Divide. Mountain peaks surrounding the mine site range between 12,300 and 12,700 feet elevation. The historic town of Summitville is just to the north of the mine site on the other side of Wightman Fork. The area is traditionally subject to severe winters with heavy snowfall accumulating on steep slopes. Snow may often remain on the ground until late Spring or early Summer providing water in quantities sufficient to keep streams, including Wightman Fork, flowing year-round, and acting as a continual source of water entering the soil.
History
Gold and silver mining began at Summitville around 1870. Large-scale, open-pit mining began at the site in 1984. The mine operator, Summitville Consolidated Mining Corp., Inc. (SCMCI), used cyanide heap leaching to extract precious metals from the ore. In this process, ore excavated from the mountain was crushed and placed onto clay and synthetic-lined heap leach pad. A sodium cyanide solution was then applied to leach out gold and silver.
Almost immediately after its construction in 1986, a leak was detected in the Heap Leach Pad. SCMCI abandoned the site and announced it was filing for bankruptcy in December 1992. The EPA immediately assumed responsibility of the site as an emergency response. On May 31, 1994, Summitville was placed on the National Priorities List of Superfund sites.
Site Risk
The chemicals of concern are heavy metals (copper, cadmium, manganese, zinc, lead, nickel, aluminum, iron) onsite and in the acid mine drainage.
Mining operations deforested and greatly disturbed most of the land area at Summitville. Because of the highly mineralized character of the site, almost all exposed earthen materials are capable of acid generation. This acid mobilizes the variety of metals that contaminate the Alamosa River system below the site. Surface water quality downstream of the mine has been degraded by low pH (acidic water), and elevated dissolved solids and heavy metals (especially copper.)
Human exposure to these contaminants is limited, since no one lives onsite or within two miles, and site groundwater is not used for drinking. Drinking water wells for San Luis Valley residents living downstream of Summitville have been sampled on numerous occasions and have never shown elevated metals concentrations associated with the site. In 1997, the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) released a Public Health Assessment that classified the Summitville site as no apparent public health hazard. However, ecological impacts from site contaminants have been considerable as the Alamosa River system below Summitville cannot currently support aquatic life. Study is on-gong regarding potential adverse effects to agriculture and livestock from regular use of Alamosa River water. Preliminary results have indicated some uptake of metals in livestock and some agricultural soil degradation from irrigation; however, in both cases the effects have not been of a level that affects the viability of local farm products or impacts the food chain.
Cleanup Progress
Since 1992, EPA and the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment have initiated several interim projects designed to slow the amount of acid mine drainage coming from the site. These interim projects have included detoxifying, capping and revegetating the heap leach pad; removing waste rock piles and filling the mine pits; plugging the adits or underground mine entrances; and expanding the water runoff holding ponds, as well as operating a water treatment plant onsite. The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment led the largest interim measure to be implemented: Site-Wide Reclamation and Revegetation. In addition, the Department led the Remedial Investigation and Feasibility Study (RI/FS) for the site, beginning 1998. The study evaluated the effectiveness of the interim measures that have been completed, or that remain on going at the site, and determined what final construction projects or long-term measures must be added in order to wrap up the Summitville cleanup in the future. The study culminated with a site-wide Record of Decision (ROD) issued in the fall of 2001.
Besides ongoing operation and maintenance of the site, current activities include improvements to the Wightman Fork Diversion, SDI dam and spillway channel and the installation of Micro-Hydro-Power to reduce the site's dependence on line energy power. With the 2007 changes to the underlying Alamosa River aluminum standards, the EPA and CDPHE plan to begin design of a new Water Treatment Plant with construction estimated to start in 2010.
History 1992 to Present
| 1992-1994 | EPA and CDPHE Emergency Response at abandoned Summitville Mine |
| 1994 | Interim Record of Decision: 1: Water Treatment Plant, 2: Cropsy Waste Pile, Beaver Mud Dump, Summitville Dam Impoundment and Mine Pits, 3. Heap Leach Pad, and 4. Reclamation |
| 1994-1995 | Heap Leach Pad Detoxification |
| 1994 | Reynolds Adit Bulkhead |
| 1996 | Cropsy Waste Pile, Beaver Mud Dump, Summitville Dame Impoundment, and Mine Pit Closure |
| 1996-2000 | Modification to the existing Water Treatment Plant |
| 1994-1998 | Cropsy Valley restoration and revegetation |
| 1998 | Heap Leach Pad Cap complete |
| 1998 | Completion of Heap Leach Pad, North Waste Dump |
| 1998-2001 | Site-Wide Remedial Investigation and Feasibility Study |
| 2001 | Site-Wide Record of Decision |
| 2002 | Complete Sit Wide Reclamation |
| 2004 | Complete Water Treatment Plant Design |
| 2004-2005 | Complete Contaminant Source Collection Structures |
| 2005 | CDPHE assumes lead role for Water Restoration Plan (WRP) and Site Operation & Maintenance |
| 2006 | Rule Change before the Water Quality Control Commission for the Alamosa River |
| 2008-2009 | Wightman Fork and SDI Improvement, Installation of Micro-Hydro-Power |
| 2010 est. | Begin Construction of new Water Treatment Plant |
Natural Resource Damage Projects
Alamosa River Watershed Restoration Master Plan
The Federal and State cooperative Trustee Council contracted with MWH Americas,
Inc. to write the 'Alamosa River Watershed Restoration Master Plan' (Master
Plan) dated July 2005. The Trustee Council, authorized under the Comprehensive
Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (December 1980), is
seeking to restore natural resources harmed in connection with impacts from
the Summitville Mine, using natural resource damages (NRD) obtained in settlement
from a responsible party. The Master Plan summarized current environmental conditions,
and developed restoration solutions to the identified problems in the Alamosa
River basin, which will lead to a healthier watershed. The scope of the Master
Plan includes the entire watershed, with the exception of the Summitville Mine
Superfund Site. The focus of the Master Plan included:
Specific projects were identified and ranked and then combined into a watershed restoration strategy, with the purpose of implementing the best combination of projects to obtain the watershed restoration vision.
The Trustee Council determined that it would allocate in 2 phases the total of $5 million in damages, in order to ensure the success of restoration projects in addressing the Council's goals, the effectiveness in using the available funds, and to maximize access to matching funds. Phase 1 would allocate up to $2.5 million, one half of which ($1.25 million) would come from the State account and one half ($1.25 million) from the Federal account.
The following provides a project summary and description. The work group recommended
approval for funding of the projects presented with consideration of contingencies.
Alamosa River In Stream Flow Project
The proposal by the Alamosa River Keepers is for a project valued at $7,089,000 that is, divided into Phase I and II. Phase I, valued at $4,520,500, requests $1,774,500 in NRDA funds and includes $2,746,500 in matching funds. Phase II, valued at $2,569,000, requests $660,000 in NRDA funds and includes $1,909,000 in matching funds. Because of the costs, complexity, and time requirements of this project, the project proponents were asked to provide a comprehensive plan including both funding phases.The Alamosa River In Stream Flow (ISF) Project combines two of the key projects identified in the Alamosa River Watershed Restoration Master Plan and Environmental Assessment. The main objectives of the Master Plan: improve the sustainability of flows in the Alamosa River downstream of Terrace Reservoir and upgrades the Terrace Reservoir spillway channel. The Project involves:
Alamosa River Watershed Restoration
The proposal by the San Luis Valley Resource Conservation & Development
Council is for a project valued at $1,083,800, which requests $500,000 in NRDA
funds and includes $624,300 in matching funds.
The Alamosa River Watershed Restoration Foundation is a volunteer group of nine
local landowners that formed in 1995 in response to serious problems on the
Alamosa River.
These problems include:
The following conditions have caused severe degradation of the river, and have impacted those who depend on it for their livelihood:
The Alamosa River Watershed Restoration Foundation (ARWRF) seeks to remedy these impacts by continuing work begun in 1999, when the Foundation began the work of restoring the river channel, confining the river between stable banks, and allowing for more natural river meanders. The project provides riffle-pool-glide sequences that will restore areas for fish habitat, and includes revegetation in selected areas, in order to help restore the riparian corridor. As the river water begins to move in more historically natural ways, cottonwoods, willows, alders and other plants will have the conditions they need to replenish. And as the riparian corridor returns to a healthy system, aquatic species can be returned to the river.
The work scheduled for this section of the project includes approximately 2.6
miles of river corridor, located between County Road 8 (just north of the Post
Office in the Town of Capulin) and County Road 10 to the east.
PUBLIC LAND ALAMOSA RIVER WATERSHED RESTORATION
The proposal by the U.S. Forest Service (Rio Grande National Forest) is for a project valued at $160,650, and requests $80,325 in NRDA funds and includes $80,325 in matching funds.The project area is the Alamosa River from a point just above the confluence
with Wightman Fork down to the Alamosa River Campground. The project would include
five separate reaches on the River. Four areas with actively eroding stream
banks would be stabilized, wetlands adjacent to the Alamosa River would be reestablished,
aquatic habitat would be restored with the use of rock constructed cross-vanes
and j-hooks and the river in one location would be reconstructed from its current
braided condition into a single thread channel.
Related Web Sites
Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) Public Health Assessment
Community Involvement
CDPHE (the lead agency for the cleanup response), hosts yearly meetings in the spring and fall to update the public about work accomplished for that year, and about upcoming projects.
There is an active Technical Assistance Group that has been working with the
site managers for several years. The Riverkeepers is another community group
actively involved the Summitville site.
Site Documents
December 2005 Fact Sheet PDF (8 pp, 610K, About PDF) Five-Year Review Report - September
27, 2005 PDF ( 256 pp, 25MB, About PDF)
Note: this links to a public ftp site containing the very large PDF.
The best way to download the PDF file is to right-click on it, select Save Target
As, and select a folder in which to save the file.
Five-Year Review Annual Update, December, 2007 PDF (4 pp, 44K, About PDF)
Summitville Community Involvement Plan, September 2005 PDF (45 pp, 475K, About PDF)
Proposed Plan for Summitville Mine - June 8, 2001 PDF (300K, About PDF)
Five-Year Review Report - August 3, 2000 PDF
(2MB, About PDF)
Contacts
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EPA |
Colorado |
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View Documents at: EPA Superfund Records Center Del Norte Public Library Conejos County ASCS Office |
Neighborhood group The Summitville TAG |
