Tag

The spill of bright orange wastewater, which carried high concentrations of heavy metals such as arsenic, lead and mercury, was an embarrassment for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. EPA officials acknowledged Wednesday that more efforts should have been made to notify...

It’s important to note that, especially in rural areas, drinking water from wells contains naturally-occurring levels of these elements. EPA administrator Gina McCarthy has taken full responsibility and promised that the agency will pay for any damage.

The plume has since dissipated, its heavy metals settling into riverbeds, during the waste’s 300-mile journey toward Lake Powell, where the flow joins the Colorado River that supplies water to the Southwest. But the state deserves credit for its aggressive approach, within...

The EPA has claimed responsibility for the disaster and is working to address the crisis, but the organization is continuing to receive backlash.

Communities along the Animas and San Juan rivers in Colorado, New Mexico and Utah have been forced to stop using river water after 3 million gallons of wastewater spilled from an old Colorado mine.

Updates with McCarthy planning visit.

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

Fish are more sensitive to changes in water.

Of course, everyone is warned about not drinking water directly from the river.

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

Mustard-colored wastewater laced with heavy metals continues to drain into a river from an abandoned mine in southwestern Colorado at a rate of about 550 gallons per minute, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, which caused the spill.

The Environmental Protection Agency says wastewater continues to drain from an abandoned mine in southwestern Colorado at a rate of about 550 gallons per minute.

The EPA did not mention whether the elements posed a health hazard, but said local authorities made the right decision to close the Animas River to human activities.