EPA: Lead, arsenic levels soared in hours after spill

Water flows down Cement Creek on Thursday just below the site of the blowout at the Gold King mine

River-water testing released Thursday showed soaring levels of lead, arsenic, cadmium and other heavy metals when the sickly-yellow Gold King Mine plume of waste first flowed through Colorado and into New Mexico and Utah last week. The metals far exceeded government exposure limits for aquatic life and humans in the hours after the Aug. 5 spill, which sent 3 million gallons of wastewater through three Western states and the Navajo Nation. Lead was 3,580 times higher than federal standards for human drinking and arsenic 823 times the level for human ingestion. The Environmental Protection Agency, which released the results under increasing political pressure, also said its analysis shows the heavy metals quickly returned to “pre-event levels” once the plume passed through the area tested, on the Animas River between Silverton, Colo., and the downstream municipal water intake for Durango. No EPA results for the Animas and San Juan rivers in New Mexico were available yet, but preliminary data for the first few days after the spill from Farmington and state Environment Department testing showed unsafe levels of lead. EPA chief Gina McCarthy, in Farmington on Thursday, told local, state and tribal officials that the improving results show the river is “restoring itself.” “It gives us a sense that we are on a different trajectory than we were before, but clearly we need to continue to work, not just short term, to look at every segment of the river moving forward,” McCarthy told the Farmington Daily Times. She also announced that the EPA has released $500,000 to help supply clean water for crop irrigation and livestock in northwestern New Mexico because farmers and ranchers there have no access to river water and it’s unknown when they will.  Navajo President Russell Begaye told tribal members Wednesday night not to sign or submit EPA claim forms handed out at a public hearing until officials make sure they’re not waiving rights to future claims. In the president’s directive, Navajo Nation Attorney General Ethel Branch advised that the federal form “contains offending language that will waive future claims for individuals that sign the form and preclude our people from seeking full compensation for injuries suffered from the spill.” The EPA said claims must be submitted within two years, even though it may take much longer to learn the extent of the damage. McCarthy met with Begaye and Vice President Jonathan Nez on Thursday, touring both the San Juan River and also the Navajo Nation’s Eastern Incident Command Post. Begaye said there is uneasiness and uncertainty, especially since Navajo people have a natural distrust of the federal government based on their history working with them...more

Hotline, test results
Results of tests of river water in New Mexico can be found at nmedriverwatersafety.org.
The EPA has a hotline residents can call for questions, 1-844-607-9700.