It doesn't look that complicated, this collection of hardware store materials, but it may represent
a breakthrough in cleaning up polluted water near coal mines.
(nat sound: water bubbling in pipe)
Even more compelling - this device is actually a revived 16th century technology that uses
no electricity and requires little maintenance.
Call it simple and sustainable - this is a trompe.
Water comes in here and falls down a vertical pipe.
At the same time, air is entrained and the velocity of the water carries the air bubbles
down to the bottom here, where we change direction, and the pipe enlarges.
The water bubbles then float to the top and are captured in these reservoirs.
Then the water without air comes out the discharge pipe and is discharged here.
In turn, the bubbling air oxidizes the iron in the water, which then settles out -- leaving
the water clean.
Leavitt first encountered a trompe -- the largest known in the world - in the 1970s
as an engineering student.
We were on a trip in Canada, driving past the Ragged Chutes air compressor and they
pointed out of the bus and said "yeah, they use falling water to compress the air and
they use the air from that compressor to run the rock drills in the mines of Cobalt, Ontario.
But the trompe's history goes back to the 1600s, when ancient engineers realized falling
water could capture and compress air, and make it usable.
Later on, Spanish engineers refined the process for iron forging.
In 2010, OSM issued a call for proposals for ideas on how to clean up polluted minewater,
preferably off the electric grid, at lower costs, and with a potential for wide use.
That's when Leavitt remembered his visit in the 70's.
It was largely a forgotten technology, because once electricity came along, the need for
this type of an air compressor disappeared because it's not mobile.
The irony is that the same reason people abandoned using trompes is why it's attractive for use
here - it doesn't need electricity or any other power - just water and gravity.
The first time we read the proposal, it was just awesome.
It was well received, it was innovative, it was simple.
And it was applicable to many regions across our country that have these types if issues,
these mine drainage issues, so it fit many categories for us.
Better yet, the materials needed to build a trompe are all off the shelf, ready to use.
You can buy most of the parts at Home Depot.
As a result, Leavitt succeeded in winning an Applied Sciences grant from OSM to begin
developing the device.
But then, another problem arose - a big one.
Just about two years ago in July, I was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.
To keep things moving, Leavitt asked several non-profit and commercial groups to step in
and handle the heavier lifting.
In the meantime, he faced surgeries and chemotherapy and a long recovery.
They took a bunch of pieces and parts out, and so far, we're optimistic.
In March the full scale trompe went online, moving compressed bubbling air into polluted
minewater.
While it may look like the opposite is happening, the rusty coloration means the air is oxidizing
the iron.
In other words - it's removing it.
Now, with the proof of concept underway and early results promising, Leavitt hopes to
offer trompe design and development to other mining and clean water groups.
I think our watershed groups are going to love it -- the non profit groups that spend
their time and money to develop passive water treatment systems.
I think it's going to work for the abandoned mine land sites, where our states go in to
do projects, and I think it's potentially good for industry -- that industry will be
able to further develop their treatment systems.
It's the kind of innovation OSM seeks - and sponsors - in its mission to protect people
and the environment.
For the U.S. Department of the Interior and the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and
Enforcement, I'm Chris Holmes.