The Environmental Protection Agency accidentally discharged millions of gallons of pollutants which has contaminated rivers in Durango, Colorado and in other places the Animas River flow to, changing the blue color of the river to an unnatural orange or custard color.
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Navajo Nation President Russell Begaye told The Associated Press that regional EPA officials told him the cleanup could take decades.
“Testing by the EPA – an agency typically in the position of responding to toxic disasters, not causing them – found that the wastewater spill caused levels of arsenic, lead and other metals to spike in the Animas River“, The New York Times reported.
McCarthy said she understands the frustrations and that the agency is working around the clock to analyze data.
EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy.
Fears of serious health risks quickly surfaced, but Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment Executive Director Larry Wolk said Tuesday the river is returning to normal.
Dissolved iron in the waste turned the long plume an alarming orange-yellow – a look familiar to old-time miners who call it “yellow boy” – so “the water appears worse aesthetically than it actually is, in terms of health”, said Ron Cohen, a civil and environmental engineering professor at the Colorado School of Mines. Contained within that plume are risky levels of copper, zink and iron.
Balderas says that because there are questions about the safety of the river, it’s too early to guess at the true costs of what he called an unfortunate disaster. The Animas River is a tributary of the San Juan, which flows directly into Lake Powell from the east. She adds that seven public water supply systems have been shut off in Colorado and New Mexico. After the surge, the levels ranged from 7.84 to 8.08.
Water samples from the wells were sent to a laboratory in Albuquerque, and results are expected in about three days. The agency said the team at the site misjudged the pressure that had built up at the entrance of the mine. “The statements by the (EPA’s administrator) indicate the EPA is accepting responsibility for the accident”.
Drinking water is being hauled to some communities. “We are committed to helping the people throughout the Four Corner Regions who rely on these rivers for their drinking water, irrigation water and recreation”.
The plume is now working its way toward the San Juan River’s confluence with the Colorado River in Utah.
The best course for the EPA would be to leave the metals where they settle, he said, noting that next spring’s mountain snowmelt would help dilute the contaminants further and flush them downstream.
However, experts say a long-term concern is the deposit of heavy metals from the spill that have settled into river sediments, where they can be churned up and unleash a new wave of pollution when storms hit or rivers run at flood stage.
Filfred said Tuesday in Utah that he doesn’t know how long the reservation could truck in water and that farmers depend on the San Juan River to irrigate about 30,000 acres of crops.
“It’s inexplicable. It really is”, Carpenter said in a phone interview.
The spill reached the New Mexico municipalities of Aztec, Farmington and Kirtland over the weekend.
The contaminates eventually found their way to New Mexico, and the state declared a state of emergency.
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James Fenton is the business editor of The Daily Times.
