Superfund and Mining Megasites Lessons from the Coeur d'Alene River Basin (2005) / Chapter Skim
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3 The Coeur D'Alene System
3 The Coeur D'Alene System
Pages 47-107
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From page 47... ...
, Lake Coeur d'Alene, and the upper reaches of the Spokane River, which drains Lake Coeur d'Alene (see Figure 3-1)
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From page 48... ...
The forest resources have supported the lumber industry, and Lake Coeur d'Alene is developing a strong recreation and tourism economy. In addition, some members of the Coeur d'Alene tribe historically relied on the resources of the basin to support a subsistence lifestyle.
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From page 49... ...
The first type includes the upper reach of the South Fork from the Bitterroot Mountains to the town of Wallace, the upper reach of the North Fork, and all the 3,500 el) v le 3,000 sea ev abo 2,500 eet(f ace 2,000 surf ater w of 1,500 ationv Ele Spokane River Lake Main Stem South Fork 1,000 Coeur d' Alene Coeur d' Alene River Coeur d' Alene River 140 130 120 110 100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 River miles below Mullan, Idaho FIGURE 3-2 Longitudinal profile of Coeur d'Alene-Spokane River drainage.
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From page 50... ...
This large and relatively deep lake is the ultimate sink for much of the contaminated sediment being carried down the Coeur d'Alene River. The Spokane River drains Lake Coeur d'Alene at its north end.
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From page 51... ...
, and this pattern links fish in a lower subbasin to habitat, prey abun dance, and type in an upper basin. For example, in the Coeur d'Alene River basin, cutthroat and bull trout adults inhabit a wide variety of river habitats; however, they return upstream to tributary streams to spawn (Woodward et al.
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From page 52... ...
. The winds on Lake Coeur d'Alene are less predictable, with the most common patterns being from either the north or the south along the axis of the lake (URS Greiner, Inc.
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From page 53... ...
Chemical Transformations and Toxic Effects Metals in the environment exist in a variety of chemical forms or "species." For instance, zinc, a metal of primary concern in the Coeur d'Alene River basin because of its toxicity to aquatic ecosystems, can exist in its native mineral form (largely as sphalerite, or zinc sulfide [ZnS] , also known as zincblende or zinc ore)
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From page 54... ...
. Once in solution, ionic zinc is a reactive molecule and undergoes a variety of interactions with other ions or with dissolved organic matter.
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. An additional reason why the finer particles may present increased risk to waterfowl is that floods are more likely to carry the finer materials into the wetlands and lateral lakes in the lower basin.
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. THE UPPER BASIN The upper basin, which includes the upper reaches of both forks of the Coeur d'Alene River as well as all the tributaries to these forks, is where
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From page 57... ...
Most swans in the Coeur d'Alene River basin are either en route to their northern breeding grounds in the spring or heading south during wintering periods. They feed primarily on tubers and roots of aquatic plants that grow at shallow depths in lakes and wetlands in the lower basin.
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From page 58... ...
Most houses are quite old, and some lack basic water and sewage services. There are two small incorporated communities in the upper basin, Mullan and Wallace, both located on the South Fork of the Coeur d'Alene River.
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The zone of intense shearing and faulting is along a regional structure known as the Lewis and Clark line, extending westward from central Montana to Spokane. Along this line, stream valleys such as the South Fork of the Coeur d'Alene River are guided by the zones of more easily eroded fractured rock.
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From page 60... ...
However, by 1904 only one mine had a large deposit of carbonate ore remaining. The lower limit of oxidized ore in the district was very irregular, with carbonate noted in vugs and fractures to several hundred feet, but at the Bunker Hill Mine, unoxidized galena was discovered at the surface (Ransome and Calkins 1908, pp.
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From page 61... ...
The largest upper basin tailings pond is the 66-acre (27-hectare) Hecla-Star tailings pond at the bottom of Canyon Creek containing about 2.1 million cubic yards (1.6 million m3)
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Hydrology Surface Water The upper basin streams display flow variations typical for mountain streams. Canyon Creek, for instance, has a base flow discharge estimated to be 10-15 cubic feet per second (cfs)
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From page 63... ...
and, therefore, have limited capacity to dissolve metals. The few adit drainages in the upper basin that have significant concentrations of dissolved metals (Success, zinc at 50 mg/L; Gem, zinc at 16 mg/L)
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. The average zinc loading from all of the adits in the major upper basin mining areas (Canyon Creek, Ninemile Creek, the upper reaches of the South Fork, and Pine Creek)
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. Station 2, Station 3, Canyon Creek Canyon Creek 40 ft3/s, 13 µg/L Station 1, nr Burke at mouth 1,000 lbs/yr SFCDR near Mullan 38 ft3/s, 7.4 µg/L 56 ft3/s, 1,700 µg/L 560 lbs/yr 190,000 lbs/yr 40 ft3/s, 3.0µg/L Station 5, Station 4, 18 ft3/s, 2,300µg/L 240 lbs/yr Placer Creek Ninemile Creek 84,000 lbs/yr 242 ft3/s, 650 µg/L Station 6, 310,000 lbs/yr SFCDR at Silverton Station 7, 9 ft3/s, 69 µg/L Moon Gulch 1,200 lbs/yr 390 ft3/s, 620 µg/L Station 8, 480,000 lbs/yr SFCDR at Elizabeth Park Station 13, 4 ft3/s, 5,000 µg/L Station 9, Prichard Creek 35,000 lbs/yr Government Gulch at Prichard 217 ft3/s, 32 µg/L 180 ft3/s, 93 µg/L Station 10, 14,000 lbs/yr 33,000 lbs/yr Pine Creek 636 ft3/s, 810 µg/L Station 11, Station 12, Station 14, 1,000,000 lbs/yr SFCDR near Pinehurst NFCDR nr Prichard NFCDR at Enaville 796 ft3/s, 2.4 µg/L 2,140 ft3/s, 11 µg/L 3,800 lbs/yr 46,000 lbs/yr 2,880 ft3/s, 210 µg/L Station 15, 1,200,000 lbs/yr CDR near Cataldo 2,890 ft3/s, 240µg/L Station 16, 1,400,000 lbs/yr CDR near Harrison 2,470 ft3/s, 1.3 µg/L Station 17, Coeur dAlene 6,400 lbs/yr St.
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From page 66... ...
For instance, the South Fork of the Coeur d'Alene River above Wallace has an average dissolved zinc concentration of approximately 190 µg/L, about five times the ambient water-quality criteria (AWQC) , but the trout density is quite high, similar to that in morphologically similar reaches in the St.
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From page 67... ...
There are currently two active mines in the middle basin. One is the Galena Mine located 2 miles west of Wallace, and the second is the Bunker Hill Mine located in Kellogg.
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. As indicated in Table 3-2, the middle basin communities reflect these events, showing many of the same characteristics of the upper basin communities.
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From page 69... ...
69 Pinehurst 1,661 41.6 19.3 27.8 14.8 8.4 7.4 11.7 14.8 6.9 40.7 Smelterville 651 39.4 18.6 21.9 22.4 14.7 3.1 15.8 15.7 13.2 61.6 Wardner 215 41.5 13.0 25.5 12.8 7.1 6.6 20.9 23.1 20.7 85.0 Kellogg 2,395 37.4 18.4 25.9 21.8 11.6 10.6 17.8 16.1 17.4 74.0 Communities Osburn 1,545 44.6 20.7 29.9 11.7 8.7 10.9 11.0 12.8 11.1 52.0 Basin Idaho 33.2 11.3 37.6 11.8 5.8 21.7 15.3 6.9 11.0 27.7 Middle of U.S. 35.3 12.4 42.0 12.4 5.8 24.4 8.4 9.7 9.0 35.0 by Characteristics 1995 thousands)
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From page 70... ...
As a result, in several areas, the hill slopes are covered with the same sorts of waste rock and tailings as are found in the upper basin. A major difference in the soil characteristics is found in the hills on the south side of the South Fork from Kellogg to Smelterville where acidic emissions from the Bunker Hill smelter substantially contaminated the soil, preventing the reestablishment of vegetation.
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From page 71... ...
. In addition to the flood deposits, mines and mills operating along the middle reach have deposited substantial volumes of tailings and other wastes
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As described in the remedial investigation (RI) : "to accommodate the infrastructure, and to make room for storing and disposing of mining wastes in the floodplain, the channel of the South Fork Coeur d'Alene River has been moved, channelized, armored, and otherwise altered, with only a few reaches still resembling a natural river" (URS Greiner, Inc.
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From page 73... ...
This dilution should result in concentrations in the main stem base flow water that are 25% to 35% of the concentrations in the South Fork water. In the 1999-2000 water year, the South Fork delivered about 20% of the total lead load to Lake Coeur d'Alene; the remaining 80% is derived
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still resides as sediments in the South Fork drainage. Hydrology Surface Water Several stream gauging stations in the middle reach of the South Fork provide intermittent data from 1967 to the present.
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Extensive damage occurred where tributary streams enter the South Fork valley, but little overbank flooding occurred along the South Fork. Some damage did occur to dikes, road and railroad embankments, and bridge abutments (Box et al.
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. Groundwater In addition to the bedrock aquifer and the shallow aquifers found in the upper basin, the middle basin also has a deeper aquifer system within the valley fill separated from the surface aquifer by the relatively impermeable layer of silt and clay (Figure 3-5)
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From page 78... ...
. The Bunker Hill adit water has been treated to remove metals since the mid-1970s, eliminating what was previously the largest point source of zinc to the South Fork (about 2,000 lbs/day [1,000 kg/day]
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From page 79... ...
Substantial additional investigation will have to be completed to obtain a thorough understanding of groundwater-movement dynamics and the incorporation of dissolved metals from the aquifer materials. EPA estimates that 41% of the total zinc loading in the Coeur d'Alene River as it enters Lake Coeur d'Alene comes from the area included in the box (URS Greiner, Inc.
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From page 80... ...
As in the upper basin, some of the hill forests have regenerated over the past century. However, the hillsides adjacent to Smelterville, Wardner, and Kellogg are contaminated with heavy metals from smelter emissions (TerraGraphics 2000; Sheldrake and Stifelman 2003)
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The small town of Harrison, located at the mouth of the river, actually lies predominantly outside the lower basin, along the shoreline of Lake Coeur d'Alene and is included with the lake
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From page 82... ...
The lower Coeur d'Alene River valley is essentially the delta of the Coeur d'Alene River into Lake Coeur d'Alene. Here, the lake waters naturally backflood the river channel all the way to the Cataldo Mission.
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From page 83... ...
The river channel has much thicker layers of contaminated sediments covering the premining materials. This contaminated channel sand is typically 9 feet (2.6 m)
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From page 84... ...
as a result of the contaminated sediment carried by the South Fork being diluted by the clean sediment coming in from the North Fork (Box 2004, slide 28) .7 The volume of riverbank material is about 1.7 million cubic yards (1.4 million m3)
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From page 85... ...
Hydrology The flow of the main stem of the Coeur d'Alene River is gauged at Cataldo, where the mean annual flow for the 1911-2003 record is 2,531 cfs (72 m3/s) , with late summer flows below 500 cfs (14 m3/s)
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From page 86... ...
The lateral lakes and wetlands provide areas for waterfowl nesting, feeding, and other activities. Twenty-five species of waterfowl have been identified in the vicinity of the lateral lakes during spring and fall migrations, and more than 280 bird species are found throughout the Coeur d'Alene River basin (CH2M-Hill and URS Corp.
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.8 LAKE COEUR D'ALENE Lake Coeur d'Alene is a large body of water approximately 25 miles (40 km) long with a width of 1-2 miles (1.6-3.2 km)
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These floods filled the lower Coeur d'Alene River Valley with coarse outwash forming a massive dam blocking the river near the city of Coeur d'Alene. The lake filled behind this TABLE 3-3 Demographic Characteristics of Lake Coeur d'Alene Communities Coeur Demographic U.S.
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From page 89... ...
tons) of metals-contaminated sediments had been deposited on the bottom of Lake Coeur d'Alene since the onset of mining.
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From page 90... ...
. The geochemistry of the lake bottom is of concern because the processes occurring there determine the extent to which the metals in the contaminated sediments will become biologically available and thus a risk to the fish and benthic populations.
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From page 91... ...
. In 1999, USGS investigators also observed the spring flood with its suspended sediment load coursing across the surface of the lake to the Spokane River (Woods 2004)
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bedrock waterfall. From Lake Coeur d'Alene, the Spokane River flows at a relatively flat gradient through a 3- to 8-mile (4.8- to 12.8-km)
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Lake Coeur d'Alene and the upper Spokane River are primary sources of recharge to this aquifer. The reservation for the Spokane tribe lies along the lower part of the Spokane River where it joins the Columbia River.
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. Approximately 70% of the dissolved zinc entering Lake Coeur d'Alene flows out into the Spokane River, resulting in total annual dissolved zinc loadings ranging from 225,000 kg (496,000 lbs)
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From page 95... ...
This would result in decreased runoff and erosion during precipitation events, would likely reduce the magnitude of the normal late spring floods by slowing the rate of snow melt, and could reduce the floods resulting from rain-on-snow events by partially insulating the snow from the warm air masses that accompany these events. The second change would result from the continuing erosion of the mine tailings and other materials deposited in the upper valleys and the deposition of these materials in the middle and lower segments as well as Lake Coeur d'Alene and the upper Spokane River.
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From page 96... ...
It is also unclear what will happen in Lake Coeur d'Alene. It will continue to receive sediments, which will extend the delta of the Coeur d'Alene River farther out into the lake and increase the depth of contaminated sediments on the lake bottom.
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From page 97... ...
and is arguably reducing environmental risks at these sites. In the Coeur d'Alene River basin such remining activities conceivably could result in the removal of large amounts of contaminated materials from some of the stream channels as well as the tailings piles and other terrestrial deposits.
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From page 98... ...
Ironically, the increased transport of relatively clean sediment from the North Fork is reducing the average concentration of lead in sediments below its confluence with the South Fork. Regional and Global Human-Induced Perturbations One possible perturbation that could occur at the regional level is an increase in acid rain resulting from electrical power generation, increased vehicle traffic, or other sources.
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From page 99... ...
One result could be increased wind erosion of contaminated sediments, increasing human health risks from their inhalation. It is difficult, often impossible, to predict what perturbations will occur and, if they do occur, what effects they might have on the Coeur d'Alene River basin.
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From page 100... ...
Presentation at the Third Meeting on Superfund Site Assessment and Remediation in the Coeur d'Alene River Basin, June, 17-18, 2004, Coeur d'Alene, ID.
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From page 101... ...
2004. Dissolved Metal Loading from Groundwater to the South Fork of the Coeur d'Alene River, Bunker Hill Superfund Site, Idaho, Draft Final Report, June, 2004.
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From page 102... ...
Part III. Downstream effects: The Spokane River basin.
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From page 103... ...
1995a. Effect of mining and related activities on the sediment trace element geochemistry of Lake Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, USA.
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2000. Pacific Northwest regional assessment: The impacts of climate variability and climate change on the water resources of the Columbia River Basin.
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From page 105... ...
2001. Draft 2000 Trend Analysis Of Site-Wide Monitoring Program Bunker Hill Superfund Site, Prepared for the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, Division of Environmental Quality, Boise, ID by TerraGraphics Environmental Engineering, Inc., Moscow, ID.
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From page 106... ...
Part 3. CSM Unit 2, Midgradient Watersheds, South Fork Coeur d'Alene River.
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From page 107... ...
Presentation at the Third Meeting on Superfund Site Assessment and Remediation in the Coeur d'Alene River Basin, June 17, 2004, Coeur d'Alene, ID. Woodward, D.F., J.A.
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