Colorado mine waste spill expected to affect Utah waters

Workers for the Environmental Protection Agency were trying to clean the long-abandoned Gold King Mine, but allowed it to breach a berm, or small strip of raised land, and the toxic water flowed into the Animas River.

People kayak in the Animas River near Durango, Colo., Thursday, August 6, 2015, in water colored from a mine waste spill.

The Post reported fish in cages are being introduced to the area to see how they respond.

Friday, EPA officials confirmed that the waste has tested positive for lead, arsenic, cadmium, aluminum and copper. Utah officials don’t know exactly when it will arrive or what damage it may cause, but they’re warning people to take precautions.

“Governor Martinez hopes the EPA will be more cooperative and forthcoming moving forward as we work to address this situation and that the EPA will demand the same of itself as it would of a private business responsible for such a spill”, said Sanchez. From there, the orange water plugged steadily along through the small stretch of winding river in southern Colorado and across the state border to New Mexico where the Animas meets the San Juan River.

EPA ‘s ASPECT (Airborne Spectral Photometric Environmental Collection Technology) arrived in Santa Fe, New Mexico, last evening to fuel up, and completed a preliminary overflights to determine how far downstream the release has gotten.

New Mexico’s environment secretary said the EPA initially downplayed the danger the contamination posed to public safety and wildlife.

Mine wastewater is still flowing into a tributary of the Animas River in Colorado after an accident on Wednesday.

“Our initial response to it was not appropriate in that we did not understand the full extent of what we were looking at here”, he said. Residents of Durango and Farmington are also being asked to reduce their water use because water from the Animas is unavailable at this time. The EPA is building what’s called a settling pond to capture the remaining discharge. The area is popular for tubing and other recreational activities. The EPA had been storing it behind “unconsolidated debris near an abandoned mine portal”. “All were unharmed”, the San Juan Basin Health Department said in a news release. The city’s drinking water is unaffected, city officials said.