Water cleanup must proceed

The southwest Jordan Valley has a groundwater contamination problem lingering from historical mining activities in the area.

This week, a group of stakeholders including environmentalists, officials of the Jordan Valley Water Conservancy District, Kennecott Utah Copper Corp., the Utah Department of Environmental Quality and others began a process to discuss proposals to clean up the water and properly dispose of the resulting waste.

While the panel has no policy-making authority, its work is meaningful in that it might lead to a consensus as to how best to clean up two affected areas and ultimately provide an additional supply of municipal and industrial water.

The project dates back to the 1980s when the federal Environmental Protection Agency and Utah officials began to investigate environmental contamination from mining activities in the Oquirrh Mountains. In 1986, the state filed a "natural resource damage claim" against Kennecott Utah Copper Corp. for groundwater damage in the southwest Jordan Valley.

In the mid-1990s, a settlement agreement among the state, Kennecott and the Jordan Valley Water Conservancy District was struck and approved by a federal judge. As part of the agreement, a trust fund was established — primarily funded by Kennecott — to facilitate the cleanup, which could take at least 40 years to complete.

Now, the stakeholders are on a tight deadline to determine the best means to clean up the affected groundwater and dispose of the pollutants. Stakeholders plan to meet regularly until late April.

Previously discussed proposals, such as discharging the waste into the Jordan River and possibly the Great Salt Lake, have been controversial. Other proposals include evaporating the contaminated water; distilling it or discharging waste products into Kennecott holding ponds. The solution will likely involve a combination of these disposal techniques.

These are important environmental questions that require careful study and input from many groups. But the work must come to a conclusion in a reasonable amount of time because the groundwater pollution continues to creep closer to the Jordan River. While one of the public benefits of the cleanup project will ultimately be another source of drinkable water that will help address the booming growth expected in the foreseeable future, the health of the Jordan River should not be further imperiled by delays.

Environmentalists are correct that the planning and execution of this cleanup project must be done correctly. But all stakeholders need to go into this process committed to discuss workable solutions in a reasonable time frame. Considering that more time means more potential spread of the contaminants, this issue needs to be addressed in a timely fashion.