Butte Reaches Superfund Milestone, Releasing Berkeley Pit Water Into Silver Bow Creek

[Ptah]

This week, for the first time ever, once toxic water from the Berkeley Pit, the abandoned open pit copper mine in Butte, is being treated and released into the headwaters of the Clark Fork River.

It’s Monday afternoon and I’m standing on the banks of Silver Bow Creek in the center of Butte with Ron Halsey, an operations manager for Atlantic Richfield. We’re watching an endless rush of clear water cascade through a man-made rock wall into the stream, which is one of the headwaters of the Clark Fork River.

"Seeing the water come out of the rocks there, and having discharge to the creek has been very — the best part of the day so far," Halsey says.

He’s in high spirits because while there’s no official ribbon cutting, or pomp and circumstance, we’re witnessing a historic milestone in Butte’s Superfund cleanup.

https://www.mtpr.org/post/butte-reaches-superfund-milestone-releasing-berkeley-pit-water-silver-bow-creek