Rosemont Mine Water Concerns

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Securing sustainable water supplies in Arizona - an excellent overview of water management strategies and regulations in arizona.

Concerns about water West of the Santa Ritas

Rosemont states in their Master Plan of Operation section 2.8 that they will use approximately 5000 acre feet of water per year.  In GALLONS that is 1,629,105,000.  ONE BILLION, SIX HUNDRED TWENTY NINE MILLION, ONE HUNDRED FIVE THOUSAND GALLONS OF WATER PER YEAR.  Fifty one gallons per second.  Of course other estimates put it up to 8,000 acre feet, and the dry tailing and water recovery technology they propose are not proven.  Who really knows how much water they will use?  It is certain though that Rosemont has permits with the Arizona Department of Water Resources to withdraw up to 6,000 acre feet per year, and an article in the Arizona Daily Star from 5/28/2008 said "a mine the size of the one proposed by Rosemont Copper normally would use enough water every year to supply 40,000 households.  Officials with Rosemont Copper say they will only use half that much — 5,000 to 8,000 acre-feet a year — by using techniques developed for mining in extremely arid climates.”  Rosemont claims they are purchasing and storing 105,000 acre feet of cap water and tells the public they will only use 95,000 acre feet (19 years at 5,000 acre feet per year) leaving the public with an excess of 10,000 acre feet.  However if the 8,000 Acre feet estimate is used they will use 152,000 acre feet.  In this case they would draw 47,000 acre feet more than they will store. 

According to Jaimie Sturgess Rosemont, they could have just taken water out of the Cienega Aquifer,  I wonder if this is true, would the Arizona Department of Water Resources permit this?  Do they have the power to stop it?  Is there any legal restrictions preventing this? What laws do govern mines water use in Arizona?

an excellent PRO-CON video on KUAT between Rosemont representative and Gayle Hartman from Save the Scenic Santa Rita's

Rosemont signed an agreement with CAP to store 50,000 to 70,000 acre feet of excess CAP water at the Pima Mine Road Recharge Project ("PMRRP") over the next 5 to 7 years, commencing in 2007.  Augusta realizes the UNCERTAINTIES OF AVAILABLE EXCESS WATER AND STORAGE CAPACITY AT THE PMRRP.  Augusta desires to begin building up an account of long-term storage credits that could be used to replace or offset any groundwater pumped by the mine from the Tucson AMA.  Click here to read the full document .  

In other words they want to store CAP water "upstream" from where they will pump the groundwater from, and there is no guarantee of any CAP water at all. Click to read about excess CAP water.

CAP policies greatly affect our state at this time of diminishing water supplies, climate change, and shifts in the pricing and supply of energy. CAP officials have acknowledged that the amount of Colorado River water available to Arizonans may diminish in the future and that CAP is looking to acquire new water supplies, including desalination plants.  Currently Lake Mead contains 1/2 the water it did in 2000 due to the drought conditions.  Watch an excellent video titled "a world without water"

What happens if there is no excess water and storage capacity?   Is there a plan B?

What does CAP propose for us in the future? 

from an article in the Sahaurita Sun "CAP policies greatly affect our state at this time of diminishing water supplies, climate change, and shifts in the pricing and supply of energy. CAP officials have acknowledged that the amount of Colorado River water available to Arizonans may diminish in the future and that CAP is looking to acquire new water supplies, including desalination plants."  Lets take a look at this one option for our "future" water supplies. 

In a document by the California Coastal Commission on desalination plants they discuss the technology, energy use, and cost per acre foot which range from $700 to $6,000 per acre foot.  The median cost was around $2,000 per acre foot.  This is almost 20 times the cost CAP charges Rosemont for an acre foot.  If you allow for the $18 million pipeline for the Green Valley community water project they are still paying less than 15% of the cost for the desalinated water.  And remember, we have not even considered the cost to pump the desalinated water to Arizona.

I think the public that rely on the water in the Santa Cruz Aquifer may find it cheaper to pay for their own pipeline and place their allocation and perhaps purchase their own excess CAP water for the future.  If water were a commodity it would sure be worth more in the southwestern United States.  Recently Fico and ANC announced a joint effort to extend the current CAP pipeline to meet the needs of the water companies.  

Concerns about water East of the Santa Ritas

Pima County is very concerned about the water table east of the Santa Ritas.  In a letter dated 9/7/2007 to the forestry service they outline their concerns and questions.  Read this report titled "Groundwater model of the Santa Rita Rosemont Site" prepared for Pima County by Dr. Tom Myers

Here is what Rosemont has to say about our wells if they go dry 

If you live in this area and have a well find out your well # and send a question in to the forest service requesting information on the proposed mines affect on your well.  See the sample letter

The forestry service then sent a letter to Augusta on 10/19/2007 stating that they did not have sufficient information from Augusta on the effect on the groundwater on the east side of the Santa Ritas.  How can Augusta/Rosemont be so sure that the mine will not impact the Las Cienega national preserve and will not effect the Cienega creek when they cannot provide this information to the forest service?  It makes you wonder what else they are telling us that has not been verified, or cannot be verified.

Pima County Water usage comparison:  All figures in gallons, data from 2007

In Arizona, housing developers are required to prove an ample supply of water for 100 years before getting permits to develop.  This is to protect the public.  Mines however are allowed to use as much water as they want.  How can water be guaranteed by the developer when they cannot foresee a mines arrival and additional use of water resources? 

The mines have a poor track record of polluting our groundwater.  I have compiled several articles to give you an idea of the extent of the damage to groundwater and surface water by the mines.  Since Augusta Resources (or whomever they may sell the mine too) has no track record I cannot use them as an example.  So instead I decided to look at several  owned by Phelps Dodge and a few other companies. 

I'll start with this article from March 22, 1993. It gives Phelps Dodge a "D" in mining.  They contaminated the water supply for Bisbee from the copper queen mine tailings http://www.hcn.org/servlets/hcn.Article?article_id=2136 .

Phelps Dodge Sierrita Mine is contaminating Green Valleys water supply and they promised to fix it in this June 2006 article  http://www.uswaternews.com/archives/arcquality/6pheldodg6.html . 

According to a Scientific report completed in 2006, scientists have now discovered that there is widespread failure to keep mines from polluting our groundwater   . 

More on Phelps Dodge, According to the Groundwater Awareness League Complaint issued 2/7/2007, now that the environment is trashed Phelps Dodge Corporation is planning to sell to Freeport MacMoran http://www.g-a-l.info/ComplaintOne.htm .

Now Green Valley has higher Uranium, Cadmium, and Thallium levels in their water supply, and the culprit is Phelps Dodge's Sierrita and Twin Buttes mines. As reported by the Arizona Daily Star on 2/20/2007 http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/printDS/170040 .

On June 29, 2007 an article from the Arizona Department of Environmental quality informs us that they are making it more difficult for Phelps Dodge to get a water permit http://lists.azdeq.gov/pipermail/media/2007-June/000056.html .

Looks like it took the Courts to make Kennecott do anything!  In an article dated July 9, 2007 the US Department of Justice issued this release about the second largest mining company in the US., the Kennecott Utah Copper Corporation (Kennecott), and its groundwater pollution from past mining operations.   The Bingham Canyon Mine is located 30 miles southwest of Salt Lake City.  The proposed consent decree requires Kennecott to meet three major objectives for the cleanup of the OU 2 Zone, a groundwater plume. The Zone A plume is the portion of the groundwater aquifer contaminated by acidic waste water that has leached from waste rock dumps and that has been contaminated by other wastewaters generated from operations in the mining district. The plume of contamination is about 20 square miles in size with a highly acidic core area of two-square-miles with high concentrations of sulfates and heavy metals.  It will take 4 DECADES to cleanup.  How do you clean up groundwater?  Has it ever been done successfully?    read the full article http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2007/July/07_enrd_488.html 

Back to the Copper Queen a more recent article from the Arizona Department of Environmental quality dated 1/25/2008 once again addresses the Bisbee and Naco water supplies, guess 15 years was not long enough for Phelps Dodge to learn how to prevent contamination of groundwater http://www.azdeq.gov/function/news/2008/download/0125.pdf . 

read about "modern mining" and its excellent track record.  If we are counting on high copper prices to make the Rosemont mine economically feasible, what happens when the price of copper drops.  Will we be another grouse creek mine http://www.earthworksaction.org/pubs/ModernMiningFINAL.pdf  

The Grouse Creek mine, located adjacent to the largest wilderness complex in the lower 48 states, was heralded as a "state of the art" mine when it began operations in 1994.  Just three years later, the mine shut its doors -- producing no profits and leaving behind severe environmental problems.

Hecla Mining Company (Hecla), owner and operator of the Grouse Creek Mine, began construction in 1993.   Before it produced its first ounce of gold, construction activities caused a major landslide, burying 100 yards of Jordan Creek -- a stream federally designated as critical salmon habitat. Read the article http://www.bettermines.org/cvgrousecreek.cfm  

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