Lone Star repairs water leak in quarry

Lone Star Industries sealed off a leak that had been spewing millions of gallons of Mississippi River water into the cement plant's 350-foot-deep quarry.

"We continue to pump water from the quarry, but in the next 30 to 60 days, we should be back to regular operations," company spokeswoman Barbara Sinclair said Tuesday.

The company, which is at 2524 S. Sprigg, discovered the leak in April, presumably caused by significant amounts of rainfall in March and a river that had climbed above flood stage.

The water rose to about 80 feet, though Sinclair said it never affected the cement plant's operations. Workers used special equipment to begin pumping 30 million gallons of water per day back into the river.

"The Mississippi River is no longer emptying into the quarry," Sinclair said. "The only thing that could delay us now is another huge rainfall."

Lone Star sealed off the leak by drilling holes in the area between the river and the quarry in order to pour in grout. Grout is a hardening substance described as concrete without the rock. When it hardened, it blocked off the river water from the quarry.

At its worst, 25 to 30 acres of the quarry's 150 acres were under water -- about one-fifth of the overall quarry and more than ever before. Some water is always in the quarry, Sinclair said, and workers pump that water out on a regular basis.

Lone Star Industries, with its largest plant in Cape Girar-deau, was purchased in 1999 by Dyckerhoff AG, a cement and building materials company with headquarters in Germany. The local plant employs 190 people and has an annual payroll of about $8 million.