Settlement in historic salt mine collapse results in $17 million for water system upgrades

The aftermath of the collapse of the Retsof salt-mine. Photo: Rochester Committee for Scientific Information.

MICHIGAN, SEPTEMBER 2, 2016 -- Public drinking-water systems in Livingston County, Mich., will receive $17-million in a settlement related to the 1994 Retsof salt-mine collapse.

According to the Democrat and Chronicle, the money could be used to extend public drinking water to properties that have been served by wells in the area affected by the mine collapse and to safeguard the cleanliness of the primary source of public water there, Conesus Lake.

Akzo Nobel, the Netherlands-based corporation that owned the Retsof salt mine, agreed in 2006 to build a pumping plant to avoid any long-term disruption of underground aquifers as a result of the collapse. Later, Akzo Nobel protested the price of operation as being "too high to operate." The corporation will now deliver the funds to Livingston County to upgrade the area's drinking water systems and protect the underground aquifers in other ways.

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