Stabilizing of HB Mine Dam allows RDCK to lift state of emergency for Area G
By Bruce Fuhr
The Regional District of Central Kootenay is lifting the state of emergency for the area surrounding the HB Mine Dam site near Salmo.
“Right now the situtation has stabilized . . . we’ve been able to shore up the one side of the dam,” said Francis Mika of the RDCK Emergency Operations Centre.
Maika said the state of local emergency was first declared for Area G of the RDCK on July 3 in response to land instability and saturation of the dam retaining walls.
After draining most of the water from the tailings pond, officials noticed two sink holes had developed.
Both sinkholes have now been repaired.
Saturated soil had also sloughed from the face of the dam and has been replaced with compacted til.
The slough area will be further reinforced with rock buttressing.
Maika said now that the first phase, stabilizing the dam, has been completed, officials will focus on how to proceed to keep this from happening again.
“The RDCK is working with engineers and provincial agencies to develop an ongoing dam monitoring and pond pumping protocol to keep water levels low while options for permanent pond decommissioning are being investigated,” Maika explained.
Environmental monitoring and sampling is ongoing at three on-site locations: at the top end of the tailings pond, at the top of the spillway and downstream at the culvert crossing Highway 3 and 6.
The tailings pond is owned by the RDCK as part of their central landfill area and is located about seven kilometres south of the Village of Salmo in the West Kootenay Selkirk Mountain range.
Lifting the state of emergency concludes what has been a busy year for the EOC with flooding and property damage in the Slocan Valley, Crawford Bay and Creston areas.
Of course, the most severe destruction came in the North Kootenay Lake area of Johnsons Landing when a massive slide July 12 destroyed three homes in the area, killing a family of three and a German tourist.
The BC Coronors Service is currently conducting a recovery mission to find the remaining two bodies in Johnsons Landing.
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