Drinking water has not been affected, but officials are warning agricultural and recreational water users about the potential dangers because the mine water is acidic and contains a high amount of sediment and metals. Specialists rather discharged an expected 1 million gallons of mine waste into Bond Brook.
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The EPA is working to test the contaminated water.
The brook keeps running into the Animas Stream, which then streams into the San Juan Waterway in New Mexico and joins the Colorado Stream in Utah.
Earlier Thursday, the EPA said in a statement that the polluted water “was held behind unconsolidated debris near an abandoned mine portal”. It is recommended to avoid contact with Cement Creek as well. The city has also ceased pumping water to a local college and golf course. “That was not anticipated”, said Peter Butler, co-coordinator of the Animas River Stakeholder Group, a volunteer coalition.
KSUT’s Mark Duggan talks with La Plata County Office of Emergency Management director Butch Knowlton about contaminated wastewater moving through Durango. “Any kind of recreational activity on the river needs to be suspended”.
Residents near the Animas River were advised to avoid the river until the plume of orange water passed.
Deputy Stephen Lowrance of the San Juan County Sheriff’s Office said authorities are keeping people away from the Animas.
“It’s not going to look pretty, but it’s not a killer”, Cooper told The (Farmington) Daily Times (http://bit.ly/1SVScNN).
“There’s nothing that can be done to stop the flow of the river”, said Joe Lewandowski, a spokesman for Colorado Parks and Wildlife.
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“We’ll see if those fish survive”, Lewandowski said.
