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Posted by Ballpark Frank (69.178.8.75) on 14:49:06 12/30/16
In Reply to: Thanks, BP, for the useful links! posted by Beej
Beej,
I am risking being wrong in my assumption, but I think your wanting to know "exactly where the 'arsenic enrichment' to the sewer lines is showing up" may really be a question as to where the arsenic is entering the water system. I think it is a given that the arsenic concentration that is spurring this legal issue is being found in the sludge that has settled out of the sewage at the treatment plant. If you are wondering how the arsenic gets into the system, I am figuring it has to enter via the water system, which is another district if I am not mistaken. (I wonder why they are not a party to this legal action.) As I remember it, the Gardiner Water District draws water from the Yellowstone River. I think you see remnants of the original intake system on the park side of the river, just to the right of the bridge if you driver over the bridge heading into the park. I'm not sure where the modern intake is located. If the water district doesn't see arsenic in the water coming from the river, it could simply be a concentration issue, OR could indicate that somehow, arsenic is getting into the system via groundwater around Gardiner.
I totally forgot about the old coal mine inside the park. If I'm the sewer district's attorney, I'm going after the NPS under "deep pockets" theory. If the arsenic input was a product of mining outside the park, I don't know if there would be anyone I could collect from, unless the Superfund clean-up process is still taking new "clients". It would be interesting to research other mining areas around the west, particularly in California, Colorado, Idaho, and Montana where extensive gold mining was done, to see what legal precedent there is for attribution of arsenic input to a municipal water supply and civil culpability. Good subject matter for a law school student looking for a research project.
I'm glad to hear about YGM re-issuing the Doris Whithorn pamphlet. Hopefully, I'll be back in Montana before they're all gone.
Ballpark
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