Grand Canyon Contamination: Uranium Mine Dumped Millions of Gallons of Toxic Water; Drinking Water in Thousands of Homes Could Be Dangerously Contaminated

Since it opened last year, a uranium mine has released up to nine million gallons of toxic water close to the Grand Canyon in Arizona.

Though the mine claimed that its projects would not result in landscape contamination, a new study showed that high levels of lead, arsenic, and uranium were present in a pond situated six miles away from the Grand Canyon.

Uranium Mine and Contaminated Water

When the mine, named Pinyon Plain Mine, started its operations in December 2023, it claimed that the pristine landscape would not end up contaminated due to its project.

However, interestingly, since 2016, the mine has already pumped up to 66 million gallons of toxic water into the pond.

When the mine was first proposed by Energy Fuels, they assured that they would not hit groundwater. However, it appears that this changed as time passed. They then said that they may hit minimal groundwater.

They then said that based on a drill test, water would saturate mine layers. However, according to energy director Amber Reimodo from the Grand Canyon Trust, they never saw the mine acknowledge the change in their story.

The project was pitched, initially as a dry mine, by Energy Fuels in 1986. It would have manually extracted ore from the region and taken uranium from a conventional mill that is close by.

That year, an environmental report that the mining company submitted said that there was a remote possibility of significant contamination of groundwater.

Uranium is a radioactive element that is naturally occurring and that was mined and used for chemical properties for more than a millennium. From 1953 to 1980, the US was the leading producer in the world when the government issued incentives for American soil discoveries.

Now, the element is used for powering nuclear reactors. However, the process itself could be hazardous to health and ecology.

ALSO READ: Is Uranium Glass Dangerous? Here's How To Spot the Radioactive Glassware

Groundwater Affected

As for the high levels detected in the waters, this could mean that the local drinking water that thousands of people consume could actually be dangerously contaminated.

Ever since 2016, the mining company has been pumping out toxic water from their mine shaft, which holds dangerous uranium, lead, and arsenic levels that greatly exceed the threshold for drinking water safety.

The Grand Canyon Trust discovered that the levels of lead were 812 times higher than the limit given by the EPA. As for arsenic levels, they were 243 times higher, while uranium levels were six times higher.

The report of the Grand Canyon Trust also noted that in 2023, the mine's water's uranium levels jumped by 150%. On the other hand, arsenic saw a massive jump of 4,700% since 2022, while lead went up by a whopping 8,100%.

Though the mine and the Redwall Muav Aquifer, which is a drinking water supplier for locals, are roughly six miles away from each other, the rock's fractures and faults enable the toxic water to move to the natural spring.

Reimondo explained that this shows that, the entire time, uranium ore was being exposed to water. They may have also increased the odds of contaminated water reaching beyond the mine due to the increase in contaminants within the water.

While Energy Fuels previously claimed that the mine does not have any radioactive waste from uranium mining and that drinking water is not affected, a recent interview with Dr. Laura Crossey, a scientist, revealed that there are several fractures and faults in the region's rocks.

This means that it is not realistic to conclude that water cannot move down, as revealed by a spokesperson of the Grand Canyon Trust.

Senior associate, Sam Stookesberry of Energy Fuels, said that the reports were just efforts to scare. However, after examining the rock's natural traces, Dr. Crossey found that downward water migration via faults could happen in less than a decade.

Reimondo adds that the mine has been depleting important groundwater, adding further that this is the wrong place for a uranium mine to be present. Raimondo also warned that the greatest risk is that when the mine stops operations, the groundwater could still be exposed to the toxic minerals within the abandoned space.

The Grand Canyon Trust says that even if the mine is closed down, the toxic water is already a pressing problem. The only way to combat the matter would be to perpetually pump out groundwater from the mine and into the pond of evaporation. However, this method would incur immense costs and end up wasting the groundwater.