WHITEHALL WATER PROJECT: The Simple Facts, Week 1

Myth: Uranium in the Town of Whitehall Water is due to mining operations at Golden Sunlight.

Here are the facts:

1. Uranium in the Town Hall of Whitehall is naturally occurring, having been in our valley’s aquifer for multiple decades. In fact, wells outside of town limits also contain levels of uranium.

2. In 2014, DEQ notified the Town that we must be placed under quarterly monitoring for exceeding newly adopted levels of uranium set by State and Federal Governments. In 2015 and 2016, uranium levels exceeded multiple months. In January 2017, DEQ issued a Court Order to start the process of remedying high levels of uranium.

At no point has the Golden Sunlight Mine been tied to this water issue, and no funds have been given to the Town of Whitehall for grants for water treatment.

3. Through both the current and past mayoral administrations/staff/town council, the matter has been moving forward through engineering, funding options, retrofitting plans to accommodate a larger-than-expected system, and much more planning.

As you can see, this matter is something that the Town of Whitehall has/had to comply with to provide water for residents.

The new water treatment plant will bring uranium levels down to the standard set by the DEQ; the system will not remove all the uranium.

Interestingly, water wells surrounding the town outside of city limits also have higher levels of uranium than DEQ standards. The public needs to be aware of and understand the magnitude of this fact.