A potential dam breach that has been likened to the 1976 Teton Dam disaster is threatening the town of Leadville Co. and communities downstream the Denver Post reported yesterday.
More than 1 billion gallons of water—enough to fill 1,500 Olympic-sized swimming pools—is backed up in abandoned mine shafts and a drainage tunnel in the mountains above Leadville, and officials worry it could blow out and cascade through the historic town when the heavy snowpack melts.
A partial collapse of the 2.1-mile tunnel created the pooling of water. The tunnel normally drains water that seeps into some of the hundreds of abandoned mine shafts and other mine workings in the mountains north of Leadville and deposits it into the East Fork of the Arkansas River about a mile north of town.
The Denver Post reports that CO governor Ritter asks Bush to act immediately
Gov. Bill Ritter is asking President Bush for quick action in dealing with the threat of a catastrophic blowout of 1 billion gallons of contaminated water trapped in a mine drainage tunnel near Leadville.
In a letter sent to Bush Friday, Ritter is asking for the president's help in speeding up the drilling of wells to pump out water trapped behind the Leadville Mine Drainage Tunnel.
State, county and federal officials are studying what to do about the growing pool caused by the partial collapse of the 2.1 mile long tunnel.
Lake County officials this week declared an emergency over fears that above-average snowpack melting this spring could add more water and lead to a blowout.