Copyright 1999 The Denver Post Corporation
The
Denver Post
September 29, 1999 Wednesday 2D EDITION
SECTION: DENVER & THE WEST; Pg. B-04
LENGTH: 690 words
HEADLINE:
Tailings 'lab' pitched for Leadville Underground system would clean water
BYLINE: By Steve Lipsher, Denver Post Staff Writer,
BODY:
Planting seeds for his unique mine-cleanup
system of underground greenhouses, Frank Burcik on Tuesday pitched
creating a national research laboratory in Leadville to
receptive government officials.
'We were interested in what
you were doing and wanted to see what potential there is for this
technology in cleaning up water in Colorado,' said John Swartout, a
senior policy analyst for Gov. Bill Owens. 'Abandoned-mine
waste has caused continual problems for water quality, and
it's a pressing problem.'
Burcik, the principal of Water Treatment and
Decontamination International, laid out his vision of an
international lab that would design fields of metal- and
chemical-absorbing plants for mine and industrial sites around the
world. 'We could be using a lot cheaper technology, letting
these plants remove the heavy metals,' said Burcik, who has set up
a demonstration project in the Leadville Mine Drainage Tunnel
that has removed 70 percent of the metals in the water using
common local weeds.
Asking for support from Owens and U.S.
Rep. Mark Udall - represented by senior policy adviser Doug Young -
Burcik noted that researchers could refine the process by studying
which plants work best for absorbing specific toxins.
'Ordinary weeds do have the capabilities to remove
metals. The next step is to start using specialized plants,' he
said, alluding to research in preliminary stages at Colorado
State University and other institutions. 'All of this has to
be researched.'
Brad Littlepage, the supervisor of the tunnel
and adjacent water-treatment facility operated by the federal Bureau
of Reclamation, said Leadville has numerous sites perfect
for experimentation and craves the economic development a lab
could bring.
'For the last six years, we've been looking for
new technology (for water cleanup) and what Leadville can
do economically. This could possibly provide 500 jobs to
the community, good-paying jobs,' he said.
And Gary Huffman
of the Waste-Management Education and Research Consortium - a group
of scientists and engineers associated with universities and federal
labs in New Mexico - said the demand for inexpensive industrial
cleanup continues to rise around the world.
'Internationally,
Russia has a bigger problem with mine tailings than we do,' he said.
'My understanding is Argentina has problems. I'd guess almost every
country in the world has this problem.'
He envisions setting
up the lab with private and government funding over the next couple
of years and using badly contaminated water from Leadville's historic
mining district as research material.
'There are nine ponds
up there. One's got a nickname called 'Red Death' that we think we
ought to tackle,' Huffman said.
Young questioned how Burcik's simple
technology would work when efforts at using wetlands to strain
metal-laden water have been disappointing.
'Wetlands function
very well for the time that the plants are growing, which in Colorado
is a very short time,' Burcik responded. 'Phyto-remediation
technology is successful only if you harvest these plants. You have
to remove them and replant new seedlings.'
In Leadville,
Burcik runs contaminated water through a hydroponic (no soil) garden
that is kept warm and lit inside the naturally insulated mine tunnel.
In addition, he has a contract to buy the Pennsylvania Mine site in
Summit County for a similar project.
'We're fortunate that
there are facilities available and materials to work with throughout
the western area,' he said.
Noting that Leadville has endured a
difficult relationship with the Environmental Protection Agency over
its prolonged Superfund cleanup of the area, Swartout suggested that
Burcik build 'grassroots' support in the community for his
laboratory before Owens lends his support.
'The governor is
very sensitive to getting local consensus on these types of issues,'
he said, 'especially in places like Leadville that have been through
so much.'
GRAPHIC: PHOTO: The Denver Post/Helen H.
Davis Frank Burcik lays out his vision of a lab that would design metal- and
chemical-absorbing plants for mine and industrial sites around the world.
LOAD-DATE: October 06, 1999 
