By The Associated Press From Mashable

DENVER — The Environmental Protection Agency says the mine waste spill into Colorado waters is much larger than originally estimated.

The EPA now says 3 million gallons of wastewater spilled Wednesday and Thursday, instead of 1 million. The revision came after the EPA used a stream gauge from the U.S. Geological Survey. An EPA-supervised crew, who was trying to enter the mine to pump out and treat the water, caused the spill. The agency has not said how long cleanup efforts will take.

But an EPA official said Sunday that she doesn’t believe wildlife will suffer significant health impacts from the wastewater from an abandoned mine in southwestern Colorado.

Mine Waste Leak
The Animas River in Farmington, N.M., on Aug. 8, 2015, as orange sludge from a mine spill upstream flows past Berg Park.

The agency said the amount of heavy-metal laced water that leaked from the Gold King Mine into the Animas River, turning the water a mucky orange and then yellow, is three times larger than its initial estimate.

The agency has so far been unable to determine whether humans or aquatic life face health risks. The agency has so far been unable to determine whether humans or aquatic life face health risks. However, EPA toxicologist Deborah McKean said the sludge moved so quickly after the spill that it would not have “caused significant health effects” to animals that consumed the water.

The discolored water from the spill stretched more than 100 miles from where it originated near Colorado’s historic mining town of Silverton into the New Mexico municipalities of Farmington, Aztec and Kirtland.

The leading edge of the plume was headed toward Utah and Montezuma Creek near the town of Bluff, a tourist destination. The town, which is populated by a few hundred people, is surrounded by scenic sandstone bluffs.

Local officials were preparing to shut down two wells that serve Montezuma Creek, said Rex Kontz, deputy general manager for the Navajo Tribal Utility Authority.

Mine Waste Leak
To keep water flowing to homes, the residential tank in Halchita has been filled with clean water hauled 40 miles from Arizona.

Back in Colorado where the spill started, the EPA planned to meet with residents of Durango, downstream from the mine. The EPA water tests near Durango are still being analyzed.

IMAGES:
IMAGE: ALEXA ROGALS/THE DAILY TIMES VIA AP/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Ducks wade in the Animas River on Aug. 8, 2015. IMAGE: ALEXA ROGALS/THE DAILY TIMES VIA AP/ASSOCIATED PRESS

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Related story

Colorado mine spill 3 times larger than believed, feds say

By Ivan Moreno, Associated Press From Business Insider

DENVER (AP) — The yellow plume of contaminated wastewater that spilled from an abandoned Colorado mine and flowed downstream toward two other states is three times larger than originally estimated, federal officials say.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency used better measurements to find that 3 million gallons of wastewater laced with heavy metals, including lead and arsenic, spilled from the Gold King Mine and turned the Animas River a mustard yellow last week. The agency initially estimated 1 million gallons escaped.

The EPA has so far been unable to determine whether humans or aquatic life face health risks from the pollution, but an agency official said Sunday that she doesn’t believe wildlife is in great danger.

The sludge moved so quickly that it would not have “caused significant health effects” to animals that consumed the water, EPA toxicologist Deborah McKean said.

No drinking-water contamination has been reported because water utilities shut down their intake valves ahead of the plume to keep it out of their systems. Farmers also closed the gates on their irrigation ditches to protect their crops.

The discolored water stretched more than 100 miles from where it originated near Colorado’s historic mining town of Silverton into the New Mexico municipalities of Farmington, Aztec and Kirtland.

There, the EPA and New Mexico are offering free testing of water from domestic wells this week.

The leading edge of the plume was headed toward Utah and Montezuma Creek near the town of Bluff, a tourist destination. The town, which is populated by a few hundred people, is surrounded by scenic sandstone bluffs.

Local officials prepared to shut down two wells that serve Montezuma Creek, said Rex Kontz, deputy general manager for the Navajo Tribal Utility Authority.

To keep water flowing to homes, the residential tank in Halchita has been filled with clean water hauled 40 miles from Arizona.

In Colorado, the EPA planned to meet with residents of Durango, downstream from the mine as water tests from near the city were still being analyzed.

Federal officials have not said how long cleanup efforts will take after an EPA-supervised crew trying to enter the mine to pump out and treat the water caused the spill.

IMAGE:
Scott Roberts, an aquatic biologist with Mountain Studies Institute, collects insects out of the Animas River, in Durango Colo., on Sunday, Aug. 9, 2015, to check on their health. MSI has been keeping an eye on the insects starting just before and during the toxic minerals that came down the river from the Gold King Mine on Wednesday. (Jerry McBride/The Durango Herald via AP)

For more on this story go to: http://www.businessinsider.com/ap-colorado-mine-spill-3-times-larger-than-believed-feds-say-2015-8#ixzz3iR3FBuJZ