“We are demanding from the U.S. EPA an immediate release of detailed information on the type of contaminants that is flowing into the river from the Gold King Mine”, President Begaye said. No health hazard has been detected, but the tests were still being analyzed, said Joan Card, an adviser to Environmental Protection Agency Regional Director Shaun McGrath.
Advertisement
The EPA’s on-scene coordinator Hays Griswold, one of four workers at Gold King when an estimated 1 million or more gallons of orange acid water blew through a loose dirt barrier, said he’d been working to install a pipe to drain rising water in the mine.
The river contaminated flows into other river systems such as the San Juan River that goes into New Mexico and Utah. The team began collecting samples at the drinking water intakes for Farmington and Aztec to help New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) establish baseline conditions in the river.
More than 70 miles of river have been closed, stretching all the way to New Mexico, and the city of Durango has issued warnings to curtail water use and irrigation. But the agency still was running tests to see exactly what the sludge contained as it creeps toward communities in northern New Mexico.
In Cement Creek, near the spill, the water registered a pH level of 3.74, which the EPA said is similar to the acidity of tomato juice and apples.
“Until we know what we’re up against and what the effects will be, we’re saying, ‘Be cautious,”‘ Baker said. But downstream water agencies were warned to avoid Animas River water until the plume passes, said David Ostrander, director of the EPA’s emergency response program in Denver. Officials say they broke through a rock damn at the mine near Silverton that caused the million plus gallons to spill.
“We’re having an actual drawback getting EPA to inform us what’s on this stuff”, stated Don Cooper, emergency supervisor for San Juan County, New Mexico.
Though the spill happened on Wednesday, the EPA didn’t tell anyone about it until the next business day.
“Be on alert, take care of your children, pets and livestock near the river”, President Begaye said.
New Mexico officials are angry the EPA did not inform them soon enough about the pollution floating downstream. The plume of muck got into Cement Creek, and then the Animas River. “I want to assure you that the EPA absolutely is concerned”. High levels of arsenic, for example, may cause blindness, paralysis and cancer.
The post EPA accidentally spills wastewater from Colorado mine into nearby river appeared first on PBS NewsHour.
Heavy metals, for example, can be deadly for humans and animals that have been exposed in long-term situations.
Advertisement
Officials said the contamination would likely settle into sediment in Lake Powell. The Bureau of Land Management in Utah is advising people against boating and recreating on the San Juan River for now.
