“There will be a source of these contaminants in the rivers for a long time”, said hydrologist Tom Myers, who runs a Nevada-based consulting business.
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The encounter came a day after McCarthy announced the water quality of the Animas River in Colorado, which was rendered bright orange by the toxic waste spill from the abandoned Gold King Mine near Silverton, Colorado, had returned to pre-spill levels. That would have brought in major funds for a comprehensive cleanup.
Ms. McCarthy, who said she was “deeply sorry” in a Tuesday speech, is scheduled Thursday to visit the recovery efforts in Farmington, New Mexico, where the orange plume from the Animas River connected with the San Juan River.
In the meantime, Blinzler said he has ordered water filters as a precaution.
Colorado Attorney General Cynthia Coffman said Wednesday it was “too soon to know” if the states affected by the spill – Colorado, Utah and New Mexico – will pursue litigation against the EPA.
Officials in northwestern New Mexico have lifted the precautionary ban on the use of private well water throughout the Animas River valley after a toxic mine spill.
Gold King is one of a cluster of old mines sending pollution downhill from tunnels dug 11,000 feet high in Colorado’s San Juan Mountains. Officials say the spill is around 3 million gallons, though Begaye said he believes it’s clearly much more than that.
He claims the water did not originate with the Gold King, but seeped into it from an adjacent mine, the Sunnyside.
The agency tested for 24 metals at the river’s surface.
“Your average soccer mom is going to be scared off”, he said, adding that nervous rafters will probably just pick another river.
But environmental regulators in downstream New Mexico warned that it was crucial to determine where the contamination settles. “All those fish died in the river, and no one told us”. The EPA denied it. “EPA is not offering immediate reimbursements for damages from the Gold King Mine water”, the agency said in a statement.
The EPA, through a contractor, was trying to clean up the mess, and in the process, allowed the 3 million gallons of wastewater that had accumulated to escape from holding ponds and into Cement Creek, then into the Animas River.
“It takes years for sediments to clean once acid mine drainage has been removed”, Stednick said.
Richard Charley, right, and Melvin Jones deliver water to a ranch along the San Juan River on the Navajo Reservation, Wednesday, August 12, 2015, in Shiprock, NM.
Begaye says the EPA has distributed claim forms at public hearings across the Navajo Reservation and urged tribal members to sign them. Farmers are in danger of losing their crops because they have been forced to stop irrigating. Not just of what’s floating in her well water, but of how little she’s heard from the EPA.
Some experts downplayed the damage.
The head of the Environmental Protection Agency thinks the mine spill disaster in Colorado isn’t an issue that will go away anytime soon, and says the agency is readying for a wave of congressional oversight and lawsuits long after the crisis has been resolved.
But Cohen understands why others are waiting for more data.
His agency estimates the wastewater will make it out of Lake Powell in about two weeks amid extra testing to monitor the contaminants.
“It’s probably perfectly fine”.
But will he drink the water?
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Williams was skeptical that a water treatment plant would provide a long-term solution.
