One group is hoping to put its research to work in Berkeley Pit, the nation's largest Superfund site.
Berkeley Pit, located near Butte, Mont., is the world's second largest open mine and the nation's largest Superfund site. According to the Environmental News Network (ENN), for 17 years, hundreds of corporations and study groups have studied ways to contain the pit's 26 billion gallons of contaminated ground water before it seeps into neighboring aquifers and water surfaces. Now one group in particular is hoping to put its research to work in the Pit.
Previously, the Montana Standard reported that a small, privately funded group announced it successfully has treated Berkeley Pit acid mine wastewater to potable standards. The paper said representatives from Ion Resolutions, Virginia City, Mont., claimed that they have been able to treat the water, which is full of heavy metals, to drinkable standards. To illustrate the point, Ion employees showed fish thriving in the treated water and even drank a glass the water themselves.