Researchers at the University of
Colorado, Boulder say that extended drought, coupled with mining
pollution, could make for rocky winters at Colorado ski resorts. A
recently released study published in the American Geophysical
Union’s EOS Journal examines the Snake River Watershed in
Summit County, Colo., where hotter weather threatens snow
conditions at popular ski resorts such as Breckenridge and
Keystone.
While resorts may turn to artificial snowmaking
during dry winters, that brings its own problems. Water from the
Snake and other rivers is contaminated with metals from abandoned
mines — metals that are spread over ski runs and into other
waterways when river water is used to make snow. Tapping clean
creeks is better for the landscape, but it means pollution
downstream will be more concentrated, and potentially worse for
fish and wildlife.
The problem isn’t limited to
Summit County. The Mineral Policy Center cites mining pollution as
the country’s greatest water-quality problem, with 12,000
miles of rivers and streams contaminated nationwide. For a copy of
the study, contact AGU’s Harvey Leifert at 202-777-7507 or
hleifert@agu.org.
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Snowmaking and drought: a bad combination.
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
