EPA likely to pay big price for toxic spill, 'the equivalent of an EPA-caused Love Canal here'

So now, EPA Administrator McCarthy will go there. None of this has eased concerns or quelled anger among people in the arid Southwest who depend on this water for their survival. “It’s not something that we have been too anxious about”, said Joanne Hudson, a spokeswoman for the Flagstaff Convention and Visitors Bureau. “We have the equivalent of an EPA-caused Love Canal here”. The contaminated water that flowed into a tributary of the Animas and San Juan rivers contained high levels of arsenic, lead and other potentially toxic heavy metals. All along the way, signs are posted warning people to stay out of the water. Officials increased the flow of water from the Navajo Dam, which increases the amount of water flowing through the river. From there it would proceed down the Colorado River, through the Grand Canyon, and into Lake Meade, a major source of water for Los Angeles and other parts of drought-stricken southern California. He advises leaving the metals the place they settle, and relying on subsequent spring’s mountain snowmelt to dilute them extra and flush them downstream...more