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They were attempting to open the mine up so they could treat the wastewater inside, but instead released toxic waste and turned the Animas River bright orange. But “normally, people want it to be cleaned, so if that’s the best way of moving through it, generally...

“She said the period of time those concentrations remain in one area is short”.

Heavy metals naturally occur in the Rocky Mountains; they get released when water enters mines, either through mining operations or from snow and rain.

The New Mexico Environment Department’s Water Quality Bureau released results Tuesday that showed the plume of toxic mine waste caused little to no change in the Animas and San Juan rivers’ pH levels. The plume has since passed through parts of Colorado, New Mexico,...

It will take many years and many millions of dollars simply to manage and not even remove the toxic wastewater from an abandoned mine that unleashed a 100-mile-long torrent of heavy metals into Western rivers and has likely reached Lake Powell, experts said.

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.

The worries stem from the farmland that uses river water for irrigation, and the communication barriers that may be keeping some members of the Navajo community uninformed of the contamination. The plume is now headed to Lake Powell, one of the major reservoirs on the Colorado...

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