After months of planning to avert a perceived disaster at the LMDT due to high water levels backed up behind a collapse in the tunnel, the end is in sight.

The estimated billion gallons of water trapped in a tunnel in the hills overlooking Leadville poses "no imminent public-safety hazard," despite Lake County's declaration of an emergency in February over fears of a catastrophic blowout, according to a Bureau of Reclamation study. 

The Environmental Protection Agency finished the pump test in the Leadville Mine Drainage Tunnel on Tuesday morning, but not before citizen Brad Littlepage noticed symptoms of a failing dam. The symptoms he noticed were cracks in the top of the dam and water seeping out from beneath the dam.

For years Reclamation has insisted it does not have the authority to treat the water backed up behind a blockage in the Leadville Mine Drainage Tunnel (LMDT). It is only required to treat historic flows through the tunnel, officials have said. But on Feb.

Lake County commissioners have declared a local state of emergency around an old mine drainage tunnel that is trapping an estimated 1 billion gallons of contaminated water inside a mountain. The commissioners worry rising water levels inside a mountain in north Leadville, combined with its increasing pressure, could cause water to blow out from a drainage tunnel. Commi