America’s environmental watchdog spilled chemicals into a river and turned it

EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy also plans to visit Farmington, New Mexico, on Thursday.

Federal officials have not said how long cleanup efforts will take.

Frustration is mounting throughout the Four Corners region among officials and residents who say the EPA has moved too slowly and hasn’t been forthcoming about the dangers of the spill.

Salmon said the spill highlights concerns with a proposed EPA regulation known as the Waters of the United States rule, which would give the agency unprecedented regulatory authority over even small bodies of water. The agency is testing water at the request of the Environmental Protection Agency.

On August. 5, 2015, the EPA spilled contaminated wastewater from the Gold King Mine in San Juan County, Colorado.

Calculations indicate the pollution has reached Utah, but tests haven’t confirmed it because the water’s chemistry has returned to normal. Water is now not received from the San Juan River or Lake Powell. The plume has since passed through parts of Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and the Navajo Nation.

Initially, the EPA said one million gallons had spilled into the Animas, but then revised the figure upwards by three times, arousing local skepticism.

Gov. John Hickenlooper said Tuesday that much of the wastewater has been plugged up, but the state and the Environmental Protection Agency need to speed up work to identify the most unsafe areas and clean them up.

Mayor Tommy Roberts of Farmington, New Mexico, where the Animas joins the San Juan, said it was more than 24 hours before his town was alerted to the spill.

The Animas River in Durango, about 50 miles (80 km) south of the spill, had turned from orange to bright lime green by Sunday, and was a darker shade of blue-green by Tuesday, a sign that pollutants were gradually clearing, at least near the surface, said Sinjin Eberle, a spokesman for the conservation group American Rivers. “We’ve been hearing from rafting companies and other businesses that rely on the river that if they can’t get their clients out on the river in the next couple of days, they may have to shut down their doors”. But the Utah Department of Environmental Quality says it can’t find it.

Ribbons of yellow toxic sludge are just now beginning to dissipate along the Animas and San Juan rivers.

“As the contaminated water makes its way west into Utah, I’m highly concerned about its effects on the water upon which our agriculture, industry, recreation, and municipalities depend”, Hatch said.

New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez declared a state of emergency on Monday, freeing up an additional $750,000 for disaster response, and said she was directing her administration to “be prepared to take legal action against the EPA”.

“At this point we don’t feel there is any potential risk for human health”.

Still, agencies will be monitoring contaminant levels.

The orange-tinged contamination plume, containing heavy metals such as arsenic, mercury and lead, has dissipated through dilution as it spreads downstream, with its leading edge no longer visible from aerial surveys, the EPA said.

He toured the river in Durango on Tuesday and talked to a fish biologist at a fish hatchery to learn more about the impact the spill is having on the fish population.

Governor Hickenlooper and local officials said they are cautiously optimistic the damage can be contained.