As the drought rages on in the U.S. West, mining operators and other water users may have to ride a Big Wave of regulatory change and higher water costs.
RENO (MINEWEB) – In speech to the Society of Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration national convention in Salt Lake City earlier this year, Hecla Mining External Relations Vice President, Luke Russell warned attendees that water quantity and quality issues are the fastest growing economic and social challenge the mining industry faces today.
Mining companies spent $12 billion globally in 2013 on water infrastructure, a 275% increase from 2009, Russell observed, yet mining production costs were only up 52% in the same period.
The Western Governor’s Drought Forum held in Arizona last week examined the challenges facing mining, manufacturing and industry during a 15-year long period of drought with more than 70% of the western United States in the grip of a water shortage that shows no signs of ending.
On Monday, the Washington, D.C.-based Brookings Institute and Stanford University Woods Institute for the Environment held a joint session in California to discuss the undeniable fact that the West is bone dry and the water crisis has become as much an economic issue as an environmental concern and demands focused national attention.