Northern British Columbia

Nature shines but pollution persists at this gold mine on the border of Alaska and Canada. The vista is gorgeous, but mine tailings containing all sorts of heavy metals are stored in the beautiful frozen green-blue pond at right. The pond acts as a settling basin for the tailings, after which the run-off from the pond is treated before discharge to the river running down the fjord. The BC environment ministry requires the mine's owners to monitor the volume and content of water effluent from this system, so the site's intrepid field staff take water quality and flow measurements throughout the year. My URS coworkers John, Ben, and I were tasked with automating the flow measurements, so spent a week up here installing instruments that use RADAR and ultrasonic sensors to measure river discharge. We were awe-struck by the huge, snowy mountains that surrounded us, the glaciers that flowed down the fjords, the bald eagles that were as plentiful here as pigeons are in cities, the depth of the snow everywhere, and the toughness of the local residents, some of whom told us stories of surviving avalanches and grizzley bear attacks.