January 19, 2018

Aurora wants to tap old gold mine for fresh water

AURORA – Water officials in Aurora on Thursday announced a plan to tap a defunct mountain gold mine for more water to sustain its development boom.

The Denver Post reports that proponents said the approach could help fix the West’s long-ignored environmental problem of old mines draining acid metals-laced muck into streams.

Aurora Water is pursuing a $125 million purchase of underground water at the London Mine complex south of Breckenridge. Discharges from that mine for years have contaminated Denver’s and Aurora’s South Park watershed with cancer-causing cadmium and fish-killing zinc.

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The deal, if Aurora council members approve it, would give Aurora up to 5,400 acre-feet of fresh water — enough for 30,000 new residents. Aurora Water would pump the water up from an underground reservoir that holds 100,000 acre-feet of water beneath the mine, perched along the Continental Divide, using two 1,000-feet-deep stainless steel wells.

 

AURORA – Water officials in Aurora on Thursday announced a plan to tap a defunct mountain gold mine for more water to sustain its development boom.

The Denver Post reports that proponents said the approach could help fix the West’s long-ignored environmental problem of old mines draining acid metals-laced muck into streams.

Aurora Water is pursuing a $125 million purchase of underground water at the London Mine complex south of Breckenridge. Discharges from that mine for years have contaminated Denver’s and Aurora’s South Park watershed with cancer-causing cadmium and fish-killing zinc.

The deal, if Aurora council members approve it, would…

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