Story Archive

DHMO Kills

The Animas River in southwestern Colorado has turned a thick, creamy mustard yellow, thanks to an accident above the town of Silverton that released about a million gallons of wastewater from the closed Gold King Mine. But there’s no need to call the federal Environmental Protection Agency to investigate the mishap, because it was EPA employees who accidentally broke through the plug holding the water inside “while using heavy machinery to investigate pollutants.” The mine is still leaking at 548 gallons per minute, so downstream communities don’t know when they can return to drawing out water from the river, which the EPA says is now laden with chemicals, sludge, heavy metals, and is acidic. Wells near the river are already showing contaminants, so that’s not a good backup for water either. The agency preferred the term “unexpected” over “accident,” and had more bad news for downstream users: “It has been raining,” said EPA spokeswoman Libby Faulk. “We are anticipating another possible big release.” The Animas joins the San Juan River in New Mexico, which joins the Colorado River in Utah, and then goes through the Grand Canyon. (RC/Denver Post) ...In other news, the federal government has advised Mexico that they’re finally going to allow some of the water from the Colorado to flow into their country.