Animas River Pollution Near Silverton/Durango

[mtnbound]

It is hard to miss the environmental travesty of the Animas river that has spread from Silverton to Durango and beyond - it has hit the national news and state of emergency has been declared in Durango.  DO NOT WANT TO STIR UP DEBATE about responsibility/etc. (that is for another forum).  But, anyone have any idea on how this will impact getting water this year and even next year around these areas? Thinking of the CTR and those ITTing it this year, racing it next year and for those touring the CT.

Does the Animas river have any impact (including other rivers/creeks that get their water from the Animas) on where any bike-packers would get their water on the CT?

Does anyone with knowledge of this type of thing have any idea of whether this will impact the CTR next year?  How long does such environmental disaster impact these water sources?  While info is still in the early stages and unclear, arsenic, lead and other metals are in the contaminated water - how long do these  types of pollutants stick around/settle into the streams?  Would normal filter reduce it?

[joeydurango]

Zero impact to CT users.  All water sources along the CT in our area are well away from the Animas, for one thing, unless you filter from the river itself in Silverton.  Even then all you'd have to do is filter from the Animas northeast of where Cement Creek comes in (right in Silverton proper), although there are plenty of mine adits upstream of that confluence as well.  I personally just don't filter from Hermosa, the Animas, or anything near Silverton unless it's coming off a snowfield, ever.

More importantly, the recent spill is just a nice, orange-colored reminder of a problem we've had for over a century.  I did some math - based on the 200 gallons/minute that the Gold King mine was leaking for at least the last few years (if not longer, as it began leaking shortly after Sunnyside Mining Corp plugged the American Tunnel and walked away in 2003, raising the water table inside the mountain so that the Red, Bonita, and Gold King began spewing waste).  Turns out we've had 105 MILLION gallons of that exact same stuff coming down Cement Creek and the Animas annually.  And mining waste has been an issue here ever since mining began in the Silverton caldera in the 1870's.  So while it was heartbreaking to walk down to the river on Friday morning and see it running orange, I'm hoping it serves to raise awareness of the fact that we need cleanup of these sites, and have for way longer than any of us have been alive.

Long story short:  If you were okay with drinking the Animas before, you'd be okay drinking it as of today.  During the next few high-water events we may get a little orange tint from the deposits left by this latest big flush.  But it's not been a "clean" river for decades.

[mtnbound]

Joey, thanks for the info! Glad to hear it won't affect anyone on the CT.  However, I had no idea the Animas/Hermosa was so polluted.  Downright frightening. I like to romanticize Colorado's backcountry and how pure, clean and wild it is but this is a reminder of the nasty stuff that was done a long time ago can still affect us today. I will avoid filtering from those rivers now!

[rocbeer]

https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=z2YF3GxAcd3o.kp-IT4Mgrhiw

This shows the spill from the source at the mine, all the way down to Lake Foul.