A yellow sludge spilling from a shuttered gold mine into a southwestern Colorado river has reached northern New Mexico. Michael Bennet, a Democrat, and Cory Gardner, a Republican, wrote, along with Republican U.S. Rep. Scott Tipton, whose district includes the area of the spill. “We’ll have to call the Environmental Protection Agency”. This raised the acidity of Cement Creek to a level (pH 3.74) comparable to black coffee, EPA officials said, and in the Animas below Silverton at a level comparable to orange juice or Dr. Pepper (pH 4.8).
Advertisement
The EPA, through its Superfund program, has been investigating the toxic chemicals in water and soil around abandoned mines near Silverton, Colorado, in the mountains in the southeast part of the state.
One immediate focus at the meeting – an interagency session closed to a reporter – was addressing reports of discoloration in wells along the Animas above and below Durango. Bennet continued. Until the concentration of constituents is known, drinking water systems and nearby well water users are refraining from drawing the river water, and thus supplying customers from limited clean water reserves.
“When I first saw it, I was speechless, [the river] didn’t look real”, said Durango, Colorado, resident Ian Lucier. County officials are working to identify how many of those are within close proximity to the river and what kind of earthen materials surround them.
Accounts of the spill’s striking appearance flooded social media as the waste pushed its way downriver.
The EPA has taken full responsibility for the disaster. The EPA warned people to stay out of the river, which is popular with boaters and anglers, and to keep domestic animals from drinking from it. On shores and bridges, residents stood watching as the emerald-green waters turned thick and mustardy with the discharge. Do not boil river water in an attempt to purify it and use it for ingestion.
Fish and Wildlife experts are placing sample fish in the water near Durango. “But right now we need to work together and come together”.
Bring your own water containers. Adjust your machine for proper load size. And it’s now being collected in a settling pond and treated to make it less toxic.
“The governor’s made clear his priority is, and will continue to be, to ensure public safety and minimize environmental impact”, Green said.
According to officials, tests show the water around the mine has traces of lead and arsenic it’s also now reportedly as acidic as strong coffee.
“It’s not good for the environment”.
Advertisement
“How much of a fine do you think the EPA should impose on itself?” the petition states. Officials are now examining the river to see the effects it will have on the ecosystem due to the variety of contaminants in the mine waste spill. Farmers have also been asked to shut off irrigation from the river to avoid contamination.
