Teck wetland system on UBC radar

Teck and Nature Works enclosed wetlands and bio reactive system has caught the eye of UBC.

For the over 10 years, they've been using the system to remove metals and sulfites from water at at an old landfill used by Teck, just outside Trail.

Teck Senior Biologist Bill Duncan says when they were doing lab testing, they figured the natural system would work well removing cadmium and zinc because they're metals...turns out it also get's rid of 99 percent of arsenic, which was a surprise.

Now they're trying to discover why the pilot system works that well.

Genome BC is sponsoring a UBC project, looking at the treatment of mine effluence using micro-organisms, and they're going to be studying Teck's project.

Associate Professor at UBC Dr. Sue Baldwin says the more they know about passive treatment systems, the better they can be made...and it's a natural process.

When Teck uses their chemical treatment plant for water, they're left with sludge which then needs to be disposed of.

Jayne Garry - KBS News