Colorado mine spill 3 times larger than believed, feds say

New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez was in Farmington over the weekend to tour the damage.

The discolored water from the spill stretched more than 160 kilometres from where it originated near Colorado’s historic mining town of Silverton into the New Mexico municipalities of Farmington, Aztec and Kirtland. “We’ve been hearing from rafting companies and other businesses that rely on the river that if they can’t get clients out on the river in the next couple of days, they may have to shut down their doors”.

While residents can fill up on potable water at several stations throughout the county, Romano-Kibel said the Red Cross also wants to ensure people also have bottled water to use.

Wednesday’s spill caused a spike in concentrations of total and dissolved metals in the water, the EPA said. The U.S. Geological Survey reported the size of the spill to be more than 3 million gallons, compared with the initial EPA estimate of 1 million gallons. Water then seeps into the abandoned mine, slowly filling it and dissolving toxic metals, such as arsenic and lead, which occur naturally in the surrounding rock.

Hickenlooper directed state agencies to seek federal funds or low-interest loans to help entities affected by the spill.

“This is a really devastating spill”, said Kim Stevens, director of the advocacy group Environment Colorado.

On Wednesday, an EPA-supervised cleanup crew accidentally breached a debris dam that had formed inside Colorado’s Gold King Mine, which has been inactive since 1923.

This image from the La Plata Office of Emergency Management shows Animas River mine waste pollution on Thursday, August 6, 2015.

D’rese Sutherland of Sutherland Farmers in Cedar Hill, New Mexico, said she received advanced warning from farmer friends in Colorado about the approaching plume.

Members of New Mexico’s congressional delegation sent a letter to EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy, expressing concern over the failure of the agency to notify New Mexico sooner.

According to the EPA’s onsite coordinator, a team was working to “investigate and address contamination” at a nearby mine when they unexpectedly triggered the spill from the Gold King Mine, which is still pumping 500 gallons of contaminated water per minute into the Animas River, near Silverton, Colorado.

The state’s Parks and Wildlife agency said Monday it had inserted cages with more than 100 fingerling trout into the river in southwest Colorado near Durango.

The fish are sensitive to changes in water quality. As of Monday, only one fish had died, but the agency said it didn’t know if that was because of the metals in the water.

The mine has been inactive since 1923.

Drinking water is being hauled to some communities. The mine had been abandoned for about 10 years, and ground water had accumulated inside it. EPA workers were there to clean up the mine.

State environment officials in New Mexico and Utah say the plume is passing through the Navajo Nation and headed toward Montezuma Creek near the town of Bluff, a tourist destination. And they will also vary by river segments since the impact to the river system depends on their distance from the source of the contaminated mine.

Daniel Silva, a 37-year-old resident and local fisherman who attended the forum, accused EPA officials of “terrorism” for their part in causing the spill.