Groundwater from the Belmont mine workings was tapped this summer to sprinkle 11 acres of grass south of Mercury Street, including Butte Central's new football field.
Officials from the Montana Economic Revitalization and Development Institute, or MERDI, knew they were taking a gamble by installing the well and pump, but water samples from a nearby well had met standards recommended by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Draft test results from early August showed arsenic levels 11 times higher than EPA's recommended standard and an iron content nearly eight times too great.
MERDI stopped using the water as soon as those results came out, according to vice president Jim Kambich.
Kambich said the system actually ran for only eight or nine days in late July and early August. It was down for a time due to mechanical problems and then not used when it rained.
"We knew we were experimenting," Kambich said. "We were trying to look for a beneficial use for the water."
MERDI officials were also hoping to avoid high water bills and conserve Big Hole River water, the county's primary municipal supply.
EPA's Russ Forba, project manager for the Butte Mine Flooding Superfund site, said it's too bad the experiment didn't work out.
"The only way to know was to put a well in and do it," Forba said. "They had a lot to gain if it worked, but it seems like it hasn't. If they want to use that water in the future, they're going to have to treat it.
"They gave it a good try," Forba continued. "It's the way the process is supposed to work. You give it a try and if you can't meet the standards you have to back up and look at your options."
Forba said football players who practiced on the field have nothing to worry about health-wise. Arsenic is harmful to humans, but they would have had to drink the water to be affected.
"It would take a long time for it (arsenic) to build up enough to where it would be a problem," he said.
No long-term damage was done to the land either, save for rust stains on the sidewalks caused by iron.
While this is a major setback, Kambich said MERDI isn't ready to give up entirely on the idea of making good use of the mine water.
"I don't think we're done looking at options," Kambich said. "There might be some way we can treat this. We've just got to look at the cost of treatment versus the cost of using Butte-Silver Bow water."
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