Going to Extremes - The Ripple Effect: The Fate of Freshwater in the Twenty-First Century - page 31

By 2007, the Berkeley Pit had filled with 37 billion gallons of toxic seepage . Research-
ers had assumed the waters were too poisonous to support life and were shocked to
discover the presence of more than a hundred types of microbes—fungi, bacteria, and
algae—that had adapted to the extreme conditions. The organisms, known as extremo-
philes , are believed to be unique to the pit. They are being closely studied because some
of them inhibit the growth of cancer cells in a laboratory setting; they have also shown
the potential to inhibit enzyme reactions associated with multiple sclerosis and Hunt-
ington's disease . As unlikely as it may seem, Butte's extreme water pollution—and per-
haps Pittsfield's—could one day lead to profits or even to breakthroughs in health care.