(JOPLIN, Mo., AP) — A wetlands area is being created in a once heavily mined southwest Missouri community to help remove zinc from wastewater.

The plan calls for creating the wetland and a composting area near the Webb City wastewater treatment plant, water from which ultimately flows into a creek that’s a major tributary of the Spring River, the Joplin Globe (http://bitly/1MW27dy ) reported.

Besides reducing the amount of the heavy metal zinc in the stream, the plan also will save the city money, Webb City wastewater utility director William Runkle said.

The plant produces about 400 to 500 tons of zinc-contaminated sludge annually, which is expensive to haul to a landfill designed for that kind of hazardous waste. Additionally, zinc levels in the treated water are still higher than the Missouri Department of Natural Resources permits.

Runkle said the idea came up as he was talking to an Environmental Protection Agency employee about the ongoing cleanup of land scarred by decades of lead and zinc mining. The area still has zinc in the ground, which can make it into the wastewater collection system through cracks in old pipes, Runkle said.

The composting area for the sludge, which will be mixed with compost material like grass clippings, will be built on about 20 acres west of the plant.

“By making the compost, we are distributing that amount (of zinc) over a lot more material,” he said, effectively reducing the per-ton concentration of zinc to the point where it meets regulatory levels for applying it to land.

The plan also calls for planting vegetation known to be able to absorb zinc on about 40 acres north of the treatment plant.

The vegetation will be planted next summer, and the composting system is expected to be fully in operation by then.

“We are optimistic that it (the wetlands) can absorb the zinc,” he said. “But we don’t want to make it sound like it will cure the entire problem.”

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Information from: The Joplin (Mo.) Globe, http://www.joplinglobe.com