Margaret Watkins
At Cook County Higher Education’s next Guest Lecture event, the speaker will be Margaret Watkins, water quality specialist, presenting Mine Effluent Treatment Technology and Financial Assurance. Watkins will speak on Thursday, July 18, 2013, 7:00 – 8:30 p.m. at the North Shore Campus in Grand Marais.
The presentation will raise questions and discuss key points around this controversial issue, including: Will sulfide/nonferrous mining come to northeast Minnesota? If so, what are the nuts and bolts of mine waste treatment? Is financial assurance related to longterm water treatment options? What water treatment options have been tested in northeast Minnesota mining projects? What water treatment options could be applied to copper/nickel mine projects? How do they work? Where have they been tested? How effective are mine effluent treatment technologies? Bring your questions (and possibly your notebooks) to this fascinating discussion.
Margaret Watkins has been employed as the water quality specialist for Grand Portage Reservation since 1996. Watkins has 14 years of experience reviewing existing and proposed mining projects in northeastern Minnesota. Other work activities have included the development of human health criteria for subsistence fishing and the protection of wild rice waters for federally approved Grand Portage Water Quality Standards, ground and surface water monitoring and assessment, wetland delineation and functional value assessment, source water assessment, National Pollutant Discharge and Elimination System/ Sanitary Disposal System permit review, and review of major industrial projects in the 1854 ceded territory.
The Guest Lecture series of Cook County Higher Education is offered to the community free thanks to generous community business sponsors, although donations are appreciated.
Leave a Reply