Renee Morad, [in an OZY blog with vodka ads pandering to the anti-nuclear and anti-government crowds], is also pandering fear of something radioactive in sediments on the bottom of Lake Powell, although no evidence exists to support any such claim of contaminated water above. She begins with apple pie by painting the picture of some 3 million visitors drawn to Lake Powell each year to visit a massive artificial body of water that straddles the beautiful Utah-Arizona borderlands. Below gleaming red-rock cliffs, the reservoir is busy with Jet Skis, motorboats and luxurious houseboats that resemble floating Winnebagos. [Here it comes ....] Out of sight but a crucial part of this iconic picture are Westerners who rely on the lake for more than recreation. On the surface, Lake Powell seems like a dream, but below its dark-blue waters lurks an ominous legacy, [and then seeming to be quoting in all caps but no reference comes across ....]
ESTIMATED 26,000 TONS OF RADIOACTIVE WASTE ARE COVERED BY THE SILT OF LAKE POWELL, WHICH IS PART OF A SYSTEM THAT PROVIDES DRINKING WATER FOR 40 MILLION PEOPLE IN THE SOUTHWEST.
Huge piles of mining tailings rose along the banks of the Colorado River during the West’s uranium boom of the 1940s and 1950s [Fact Check ..." huge piles" and "rows of tailings along the banks"? or maybe many miles from the banks?]. The White Canyon mill, built by the Vanadium Corporation of America in 1949, for example, crushed and treated 20 tons of ore per day with sulfuric acid, tributyl phosphate and other compounds, according to a Freedom of Information Act request [Notice that this seems to be a reference but no citation so this just may be a bare-faced exaggeration?]. With 1 ton of ore yielding 5 or 6 pounds of uranium, some 39,900 pounds of tailings accumulated daily on the banks of the river, according to Jonathan Thompson, author of River of Lost Souls [After a little math calculations to impress, Notice again, a reference? What page # or was this a personal discussion? Likely just made up]. Though the mill closed in 1953 and Vanadium Corp. went out of business, the tailings remained. After water began accumulating behind the Glen Canyon Dam about a decade later, the reservoir’s waters inundated the tailings [Again no reference, just a claim, true or not? The math was meant to infer that about 40,000 pounds (20 tons) of tailing were "inudated"?]. And then here comes another "maybe" fact, but so what? Was she meaning to say the tailings were all gone by 2005? But, she didn't say that. Wonder why?].
THE DROUGHT FROM 2000 TO 2005 DROPPED THE WATER LEVEL NEARLY 100 FEET — ABOUT A FIFTH OF ITS TOTAL DEPTH.
“For the people enjoying Lake Powell, they’re not exposed to anything that’s going to hurt them,” says Phil Goble, uranium mill and radioactive materials section manager for the Utah Department of Environmental Quality. [Was this an actual state title?]. “The uranium mill tailings produce a sandy waste that contains heavy metals and radium, which is radioactive, but these tailings have been down there since around the 1950s, with several feet of sediment placed over top of them and the water used as a moderator, or a shield.” [Fact Check: OK, better ask Phil Goble (assuming he still works for UDEQ). Was his quote in print or a "personal communication" over a beer. If the former, what is the reference? If the latter, let's talk to Phil to determine if he actually said that.]
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) says two public water systems draw water directly from Lake Powell: the Navajo Generating Station and the city of Page, Arizona. “All community water systems are required to monitor and meet established drinking water standards for a suite of radionuclides to include gross alpha, combined radium 226/228 and uranium,” says Nahal Mogharabi, spokesperson for the EPA Region 9 (Pacific Southwest). “The city of Page water system is serving drinking water that meets the drinking water standards for radionuclides.” [This should be sufficient evidence that the shallow lake water has not be effected. They sample on a regular basis and if the water quality even begins to be impacted, it will be monitored and reported quickly to the state and EPA].
Not everyone is so sanguine [She means the anti-government groups who don't even believe their own state employees unless they say something that suits their agenda, like Mr. Goble, as above.]. “We have no reason to doubt that there is significant radioactive waste under Lake Powell,” says Sandy Bahr, chapter director for Sierra Club’s Grand Canyon (Arizona) Chapter [Of course she would say that, they are widely anti-nuclear, anti-mining, and she gets a good salary pushing those half-truths, exaggerations and agendas] “What we have said repeatedly about the uranium mine and mills is that it is not worth the risk to our drinking water.” [Typical nonsense referring to activities that happened 50 years ago, but suggesting that nothing has changed. Now, however, there are outstanding regulations to support the environment and human health]. Goble spells out the risks if radioactive elements like uranium or radium get into the lining of a human’s lungs: anemia, fractured teeth, cataracts and cancer. [Someone needs to talk to Mr. Goble. She is referring to the old days when the underground miners also smoked which drew radon deep into their lungs and causing the problems. Now proper ventilation is part of the mine design and no one is allowed to smoke underground, now that we know the impact. Teeth and eyes issues are usually caused by bad human habits or family genes, not by water contamination].
And it’s not just a power plant and a small Arizona city that could be affected [What? Where did this come from?]. Jim Pokrandt, director of community affairs for the Colorado River District, says Powell is like a “savings account” whereby the four upper basin states, Colorado, Wyoming, Utah and New Mexico, can meet their annual water supply obligations under the Colorado River Compact of 1922 to the lower basin states and to Mexico. “In a sense, Powell serves all 40 million people by protecting upper basin uses, which occur before water gets to Powell, and then supplying resources to the lower basin, which stores water in Lake Mead to meet lower basin needs.” [So what?] While the situation is currently under control, there are scenarios that could upend the status quo.[The sky could fall also.]. “The tailings could potentially become a problem if Lake Powell gets to a very, very low water level or if the lake is drained, and the tailings are exposed,” Goble says. “In this case, if someone were to dig down and expose those tailings, or the wind blows them, or people use the spot for recreational use of off-road vehicles, then there could be a health hazard.”[By then humans would moving elsewhere. Worst case scenario with a likelihood of near zero].
Bruce Rittmann, a regents’ professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment at Arizona State University, agrees that the tailings currently pose no risk to people or aquatic life in the lake, but that could change if something disrupts the tailings, such as the draining of the lake or a dredging operation that stirs up sediment. [What else could he say, still a worst-case scenario with a likelihood of near zero]. Bad human diets, smoking, taking drugs, drinking excessive alcohol, even boating accidents, have a much higher risk to humans in the Lake Powell area than do the tailings.].
Draining the lake may sound ludicrous, but the reservoir hasn’t been full since the late 1990s, and ongoing overuse and the drought from 2000 to 2005 dropped the water level nearly 100 feet about a fifth of its total depth, [so we hear]. Some scientists predict that climate change will intensify and prolong the West’s drought cycles. If that happens and Powell becomes a red-rock canyon once again, then an old mess may finally have to be cleaned up. [If that comes to pass, then everyone would move away. Then, EPA would bring in the the backhoes and remove the tailings, if they exist with harmful contamination at all].
For an independent review of other similar anti-mining, anti-nuclear articles, reports, etc., see (more).
Original working URL: https://www.ozy.com/acumen/does-a-ticking-time-bomb-lurk-beneath-lake-powell/83685
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