The EPA says it can’t understand why the Gold King Mine adit is producing 600 gallons per minute now when, before the breach, flow was 250 gallons per minute. The answer is simple physics: suction force. As I warned in a July 30 letter to the editor of the Silverton Standard, “Contamination may actually increase due to disturbance and flushing action within the workings.”
The uncontrolled breach of the plug instantaneously released thousands of gallons per minute of water and suspended solids. This venturi-like action, or vacuum, within the workings created a strong suction force that pulled and removed many tons of insitu clay and silt from openings and fractures. Removing this material opened up these previously sealed openings and fractures resulting in increased open area for water flow. This is the same principle used to swab an oil well or develop a water well to increase flow. Therefore, the increased flow is not a mystery, but was caused by the EPA’s reckless shoot-from-the-hip modus operandi. It is a shame because a properly planned and executed test-drilling program to delineate hydraulic pressure within the mine before breaching the plug would have prevented the whole catastrophe.
Dave Taylor, retired geologist
Farmington
