Large Scale Central

Animas River and my RR

General Discussion
#1

For the record, The news stories you’r hearing about the Animas River mine pollution is RR related. The plume has migrated down stream thru Durango Co. and has made it to Farmington. Having several days notice of it making it here, all the taps from the river have shut down, and the local drinking water systems are all OK. The irrigation ditches from the river have all shut off there intakes, and no water is being drawn into the systems. The Ditch that runs thru my back yard, and the one that feeds my river thru my pike is non flowing, so I won’t have to do an EPA clean up program on my creek.

That said, The source of the pollution is the “Gold King Mine” located at the top of Cement Creek, North of Silverton. The Gold King was one of the larger mines in the Silverton area and was the reason that the Silverton, Gladstone & Northerly RR was built. It was one of the 3 small RRs that ran out of Silverton. It was later merged into the Silverton Northern RR. Long since closed, the mine had been “Leaking” mine water from the tunnels. The EPA in an attempt to stem the flow “Plugged” the portal a couple years ago. They were caught by surprise as to the amount of water behind the plug, and while trying to “Tap” the plug, caused it to fail, with the release of 1million+ gallons of old mine water. OOPS! The exact content of heavy metals, and the amount in the water has not been released yet.

NOTE: NO POLITICAL COMMENTS ALLOWED ABOUT THE EPA on this thread!!! Train yes, Colorado NG RRing Yes, EPA NO! Silverton and RRing yes, D&S yes.

#2

Saw it on the news last night. Do they expect the river to clear on it’s own once the source has stopped flowing; or is this permanent environmental damage? Is the D&S affected, other than the river not being as beautiful as normal?

#3

Saw a picture on FB.

If the river really is that yellow, all I can say is wow.

Ralph

#4

Thankfully your railroad will not be have to engage in a Superfund clean up program. To bad your river is dry, but better safe than sorry. I hope they are able to get a handle on it. While any mine water is not a good thing a super concentrated dose of it has to be mega bad.

#5

It would be well if the Government spent some of its money determining what the pollutants are and working to remove them that trying to stem the flow, which is an exercise in futility, and we can use the water! That pollution is a problem in most of the western mines. Don’t look it up as there is nothing to see, Suttor’s Tunnel under Virginia City in Nevada, it was dug to drain the Comstock Mines.

Paul

#6

Yes, stopping the flow of water is an exercise in futility. Many streams around here were contaminated with mine run off for years. I remember news articles about the high mercury content in the water, back when I was a child. Now the streams are clear and fish thrive in them. So, eventually, it will clear itself, its how long will that take, that is the question.

Maybe they need to build a treatment plant at the mine, to remove the contaminants from the mine outflow, instead of trying to cap it.

Anyway, Dave, I hope things get sorted out for everyone out there, before Yunz run out of drinkable water.

#7

Went down to the river to see the sights. Yup it’s really that color. Here are a few shots down by the Riverwalk park. BTW the river flows thru the center of Farmington, also Aztec, Durango and of course Silverton.

The City had a sign posted that the “River was Closed” but that was all, no one to really keep anyone away.

BTW there was no kayakers in the white water park. I guess they didn’t want to take the risk. Pretty yucky looking, But most of the yellow coloring is from “Rust”, Iron Oxide and mostly harmless.

The reports say that the “Plume” has mostly passed thru Durango, and the water quality ( pH and turbidity ) has moved a bit towards normal. We’ll see just how long before things get back to normal.

Yes, a Million + Gallons is a lot, but not really considering the normal stream flow volume. It’s what hangs around and settles out, only to be stirred up later that gets you thinking.

#8

Generally speaking, water that color does a pretty good job of saying “stay out” without the need for additional human enforcement.

Glad to hear you’ll be unaffected by this long term.

Later,

K

#9

theres an old mine up the road from where i live in scotland and the rain water comes out of the mines the same colour

to prevent it contaminating the local stream they filter it through a couple of reed beds and the result is clear water

also the bridgewater canal in england is the same colour permanently, again the water is rusty

looks like tomato soup…

#10

Made it onto the midday news on BBC Radio 4 (in-depth news/drama/comedy)in the UK today. Must be serious. Max.

#11

Late with the news, but that’s radio I guess. I saw this mentioned a couple of days ago.

Not that unusual an event where mine working are or once were very active. The Fal estuary in Cornwall went reddish brown a few years ago. The River Plym (Plymouth ) is often white from the china clay activities up stream and so on.

Can be a worry for those living nearby I am sure.

#12

They updated the estimate to 3 million gallons in the original plume

#13

I was planning a trip to Durango at the end of September.

After this, I’m going to postpone it until next year.

Ralph

#14

From the sounds of it it should be cleared up by then at least the ugly looking water. Might have to deal with the arsenic and lead. But from a tourist standpoint I would think it would be ok

#15

Devon Sinsley said:
From the sounds of it it should be cleared up by then at least the ugly looking water. Might have to deal with the arsenic and lead. But from a tourist standpoint I would think it would be ok

I’m thinking accommodations will be tight. Bound to be all kinds of contractors and govt. folks working on cleanup, testing, etc.

Ralph

#16

Holy Guacamole! The phrase F.U.B.A.R. seems appropriate, the only thing I’m going to add is somebody done got unemployed.

#17

As Pogo used to say, “We have found the enemy and he is us.” I know, “Who’s Pogo? The guy who invented the Stick?” Followed by, “What’s a pogo stick?” I was tempted to say, “I’ll take my Geritol now,” but then someone would ask what Geritol is/was. On a serious note, really sorry about your Yellow River, David. Is that anything like the Yalu River? Sorry about the spelling. It’s been a while.

#18

Joe; take your Carter’s Little Liver Pills and you’ll be fine.

#19

Follow up: The city today released the numbers for the current contamination of the river. The Lead content is slightly elevated from what is considered safe drinking water standards. All other metals are within safe range for drinking water. The main concern is that the heavy metals settled out to the stream bottom, and reside in the sediment layer, and will be stirred up with the next rain surge coming down the river.

Farmington has a safe reserve of about 80 days of water for drinking. Other cities have much less reserve, and several water systems are on a daily basis, and are having to have water trucked into their system. Aztec is being helped out by Bloomfield pumping water to Aztec thru a tie in line.

Long term outlook is anyones guess. No water yet in my pikes river.

#20

Doubt anyone will be fishing for awhile.