Contaminated water from Colo. river reaches Utah
The discharge of 3 million gallons of dirty wastewater last week raises the risk of long-term damage to the ecosystem and those who depend on the river
Long-term damage is possible, EPA says.
SILVERTON, COLO. Howls of outrage still echo through this old mining town five days after an Environmental Protection Agency contractor spilled an estimated 3 million gallons of toxic wastewater into the Animas River, temporarily turning the beloved waterway orange and acidic.
The “slug ” of pollutants moving through New Mexico toward Lake Powell in Utah is forcing farmers and ranchers to temporarily turn off their taps. It also raises concerns about any longterm impact on fish, insects and other aquatic creatures.
Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper declared a state of emergency and planned to visit the area Tuesday. Federal officials are testing the water, and local governments closed off river access through the tourist town of Durango, about 50 miles south.
Louie Girodo, the county road overseer, said he’s concerned about reopening the roadways. The breached earthen plug at the Gold King Mine unleashed a torrent of water mixed with minerals, metals and mud that wiped out several county roads.
“We were really lucky not to lose everything,” Girodo, a resident here for 58 years, said Monday as he drove with a USA TODAY reporter deep into the spill area to tour the damage.
The sudden, toxic discharge raises the risk of long-term damage, as the plume that accompanies the pollutants releases toxic metals into the river, which winds through iconic Western landscapes. For Silverton, disasters like these are nothing new.
Starting in the late 1800s, prospectors burrowed deep into the steep mountains towering around Silverton, hauling out gold and silver ore and leaving behind towering piles of unwanted rock called tailings. Each spring, melting snow running off those heavily mined peaks and piles of tailings would carry the contaminants downstream.
Girodo, whose dad worked in the mines, remembers how dirty the town’s water supply would get when he was a kid: “We used to say you had to chew your water instead of drinking it.”
Girodo is one of only three workers who make up the entire road department of Colorado’s San Juan County. After touring the devastated area, he settled behind the controls of a front-end loader to help with repairs. Silverton has fewer than 650 fulltime residents and depends heavily on tourists, especially those who race down the county’s winding, remote dirt roads on ATVs and Jeeps.
The spill happened when an EPA worker inspecting the mine had a contractor dig into the earthen plug blocking the Gold King entrance. The earth gave way, unleashing a torrent that tore down the hillside and scoured away a tailings pile.
The gush of orange water on Wednesday nearly flipped an SUV parked nearby as it poured hundreds of feet down a steep gully before joining Cement Creek and then flooding the Animas River. The discolored water reached Durango on Thursday afternoon, drawing national attention and prompting the EPA to apologize.
“They’re pretty sheepish,” Girodo said. “Whatever we need, they’re getting for us.”
By Monday, the Animas had returned to a nearly normal color, although some eddies and tributaries remained orange-stained. Several bridges bore marks where the silty water blasted over them, as did nearby trees and rocks.
A stream of contractors and EPA representatives passed through the site, about 6 miles north of Silverton, but all declined to answer questions.
Contractors had installed three settling ponds by Monday to help sediment sink out before it hit the creek. While contaminated water continues pouring from the mine, the settling ponds appear to be doing their job: Cement Creek is running clear.
Experts believe the dirt blocking the mine entrance may have been bottling up water for years, and it’s only now draining out.
As Girodo surveyed the damage, he said it looked far worse than he initially thought. The gravelly hillside has been carved away, plus there are sediment and debris piles all along the flow’s route into Silverton.
“Over the years, we’ve had a few mine portals blow out, but nothing like this,” he said.