COLORADO – Pollution turns river mustard

Fish are more sensitive to changes in water.

As reported, mustard-colored water polluted with toxic waste poured from the mine and emptied into nearby Cement Creek, which drains into the Animas River.

“We are really frustrated with EPA”, he said. The Environmental Protection Agency was moving ahead with that project – without its partners – when the spill occurred.

“We think the immediate impacts might be modest because of the dilution, but we’re more concerned about the chronic impacts of having the heavy metals in the water”, Matheson told KSL Newsradio.

In the meantime, state officials are evaluating what resources are going to be available from the federal government and the state to assist those who have been impacted, including the tourism and agricultural industries.

The EPA said Monday it was listing the spill as a top priority under the Superfund program to allow for a more extensive cleanup effort.

For that matter, the EPA badly miscalculated the amount of water in the Gold King mine when workers used a track hoe to clear dirt in front of the mine in order to install a drain pipe, a ccording to the Durango Herald.

A Colorado river is running orange after an EPA accident led to the water being contaminated by waste from an abandoned mine.

Flynn says New Mexico will stand with the Navajo Nation to ensure the EPA compensates everyone in the Four Corners region who has been affected by the spill.

Officials in both cities shut down the river’s access to water treatment plants and say the communities have a 90-day supply of water and other water sources to draw from.

Because rivers don’t respect borders, the EPA is also working with the New Mexico Environment Department to evaluate effects downstream.

The Navajo Tribal Utility Authority turned off water pumps to the small Utah towns of Montezuma Creek and Aneth in anticipation of the wastewater hitting the river Monday. DDW has been in communication with Bluff, Mexican Hat, and Sand Island (BLM boat launch and camp groundwater) systems. It could not place an instrument at the state line.

There was no indication of when the water will be safe to use again, she said. They intend to continue sampling until at least Friday.

EPA officials said that by Sunday, a delineated “leading edge” of the contamination flow was no longer visible from aerial surveys, indicating concentrations of wastewater were diminishing.

An EPA inspection team was called to the abandoned Colorado mine last Wednesday to examine and clean up previously existing wastewater seepage.

The Utah Rivers Council believes the mining toxic waste will reach the San Juan River tonite then head into Lake Powell.

For Durango downstream on the Animas and La Plata County, it’s not over until it’s over. There are even fears it could spread to the Grand Canyon.

Just a glance at a photo of the orange-yellowish slush is enough to know that something seems wrong.

“They are not going to get away with this,” Begaye said in a statement.

Tests show some of the metals have settled to the bottom and would dissolve only if conditions became acidic, which isn’t likely, Cohen said. He said it wouldn’t surprise him if people would be able to see that in the water as sediments settle out.

Following the spill, the local sheriff’s office on August 6 closed the river to swimming, kayaking and rafting.

They also asked that the federal agency develop a plan for dealing with the lack of water for communities in San Juan County and the Navajo Nation.

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.