CMS Land Co. has been working to find technology to conform with state guidelines for years
PETOSKEY, MI -- We have an update on what's being done with the mercury-contaminated water collected from a former cement plant site in Emmet County.
The water used to be hauled miles away to a deep-injection well site, but a new system will treat it on site and discharge back into the lake.
"The challenge has always been mercury in the water and getting it down to very, very, very low levels," explains Tim Petrosky, CMS Land Company’s Area Manager.
Everyday since 2006, more than 30,000 gallons of contaminated water is collected in CMS Land Company's East Park remediation station. Most of the contamination is mercury that is held here then trucked miles away for safe disposal.
"That wasn't sustainable from all kinds of perspectives. Safety, economically, and again, it wasn't a local solution to a local concern," says Petrosky.
CMS has been working to develop a long term solution for treating the contamination, and this past month it put on line a treatment facility that removes a majority of the mercury, cleans the water and dumps it into Little Traverse Bay. The mercury collected will be hauled off to a landfill.
"This is cutting-edge, state-of-the-art technology. This is providing environmental protection that few, if any other, waste treatment sites can provide," says Petrosky.
The process is designed to remove mercury down to 1.3 parts per trillion before it's put back into the bay. To put that into perspective; you can drink water with up to 2,000 parts per trillion of mercury.
Another way to look at it: 1.3 parts per trillion works out to be a single drop of mercury in 20 Olympic-size swimming pools.
"We’d like to see absolutely no mercury entering the ecosystem because it does bio-accumulate but 1.3 is the state standard, so we would be comfortable if CMS is able to meet 1.3 parts per trillion," says Jennifer McKay of Tip of the Mitt Watershed Council.
The Department of Environmental Quality tells us because the technology is new, this project is on their radar, and they'll spot check the water discharge frequently.
“Hopefully it does work. If it works, that is great," said McKay.
This project is step one of a two step process. The same technology will be used in the East Park station will be used at the Bay Harbor development. That project is expected to be complete by the end of this year or early next year.
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