Federal officials say the spill contains heavy metals including lead and arsenic. No health hazard has been detected, but the tests were still being analyzed, said Joan Card, an adviser to Environmental Protection Agency Regional Director Shaun McGrath. The long-abandoned mine had a collapsed entrance which had been known to release contaminated water into a nearby creek, so a crew of workers was installing a pipe to divert the flow.
When the news first broke out amidst Colorado mainstream media about the mine waste spill in the Animas River in Colorado, reaching all the way to Farmington, New Mexico, everyone was wondering who did this and why natural environments must be so polluted.
The EPA is taking samples of the water to test if the waste has fully passed and posed no risk to aquatic life.
The plume reached the northern New Mexico cities of Aztec on Friday night and Farmington on Saturday morning.
Cleanup has been done at about 9,000 abandoned mines but the status of some 14,000 remains uncertain, said Bruce Stover, director of Colorado’s inactive mine reclamation program. “If a mining operator or other private business caused the spill to occur, the EPA would be all over them”.
U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Yuma, spoke directly with EPA administrators.
While the sediment will settle within the next few days, the agency noted there will be immediate agriculture impacts along the river and future ramifications, including possible closures of the river based on turbulence from spring runoff.
An acidity at pH 3.74 is comparable to Dr. Pepper or orange juice, according to a table EPA information officers released.
“If they tell me if you put your hand in the river, the hand’s not going to fall off, but don’t drink the doggone stuff”, said Don Cooper, San Juan County’s emergency manager.
EPA workers were using heavy machinery to pump and treat the wastewater at the time of the spill, EPA spokesman Rich Mylott said, according to Reuters.
Yellow sludge with lead and arsenic continued seeping from the old Gold King Mine at roughly 550 gallons per minute on Saturday, officials with the Environmental Protection Agency said.
The river had begun to clear up in Silverton, McClain-Vanderpool said.
“Until we know what we’re up against and what the effects will be, we’re saying, ‘Be cautious,”‘ Baker said.
But officials also stressed that residents who get water from city water systems should not be concerned.
On August 5, 2015, EPA Region 8, based in Denver, Colorado, was conducting an investigation of the Gold King Mine.
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While the orange color in the river is expected to fade away, residents are anxious what will stay behind afterward, especially because of the community’s reliance on the river to survive.
The agency said impacts on wildlife and the environment in the area would likely be minimal, in part due to the “longstanding” low water quality of the river.
