What's Happening with the Removal of the BOM buildings and the land restoration at Coldwater?


The Bureau of mines buildings are being removed. The area around Coldwater Spring is being returned to it's previous state of  the spring outlet will fill the reservoir, and the side seeps will have it's own outlet and wetland.

Below is the plan for the water;

First here is an ariel view of the area and it shows the old railroad embankment that is to be removed;




The Rail Road embankment created a dam that backed up water around building 4.
Previously there was a drain tile system that  dewatered the area and dumped it out through the culvert.





However as the drain tile system has fallen into disrepair, the overflowing water has started to collapse the reservoir walls.
The National Park Service received approval from the Minnehaha Creek Watershed District to allow the water previously around building 4 to follow the natural slope to the south and rejoin  Coldwater Creek. This is consistent with the reservoir being only spring water directly from the rock, and not seep water that runs across the ground to keep the drinking water supply cleaner.