Posted: September 9th, 2022

Mineral (heavy metal) mine spill into the Colorado River

Mineral (heavy metal) mine spill into the Colorado River

Introduction
The Colorado Gold King Mine Spill is one of the major human-induced environmental disaster at Colorado in Western United State. This disaster involved spilling of heavy metals and other toxins to the Colorado River, contaminating millions of gallons of water. This turned the Animas River a mustard color and contaminated waterways, forcing the Environmental Protection Agencies to step in to control the situation. The accumulation of chemicals from the wastewaters generated by the abandoned Gold King Mines in Silverton in Colorado led to the breaching of the walls of the loose debris that held the mustered-hued wastewater backs. The contamination of the river waters extended to Juan River flowing to New Mexico and ended up contaminating Lake Powell on the Utah-Arizona Border.

Wastewaters from Gold King Mine flows into a creek feeding Animas River leading to water contamination noted by the death of fish and change in waters color (Pappas, 2015 – Research Paper Writing Help Service).
Waters from the contaminated river extended the impacts to other regions like Durango and Navajo Nation Land in New Mexico. This passed a warning to the river users from touching the waters, drinking it, or even using it for irrigation. The problem occurred as there was no clear structure to clean up or manage their defunct mines thus ended up in water bodies. The wastewaters from the abandoned mines contained dissolved toxins like pyrite or iron sulfide which formed sulphuric acid on combining with water and oxygen. The acid leached heavy metals like zinc, lead, and cadmium from the ground surface which contaminated the river waters (Pappas, 2015 – Research Paper Writing Help Service). The mustard-yellow color of the water resulted from the formation of oxidized iron which is mainly rust of an old nail. The clean-up process for the spill focused on the treatment of the mine and excavation of the holding ponds below the mine breach. The acidic waters were treated using crews which involved treating the ponds with caustic soda (sodium hydroxide) and lime which are extremely basic to neutralize the water acidity (Pappas, 2015 – Research Paper Writing Help Service).
The impact caused by the Colorado gold mine spill was a result of the EPA cleanup crew failing rushing to work without considering complex engineering involved which ended up triggering the blowout it was mitigating. If the EPA considered taking an actual measurement of the water levels inside the Gold King Mine before starting to dig the trenches, the accident would not have occurred. The agency also failed to monitor the abandoned mines which resulted to problem development for years before is sprouted to be a major accident leading to contamination of river waters. If the mines were monitored and rehabilitated, it would have prevented the impact of the mining companies which mainly changed the groundwater flow through interconnected tunnel series in the extensively mined Upper Animas River watershed (Yardley, 2015 – Research Paper Writing Help Service).
The appropriate step of managing environmental disaster is through mitigation which ensures that the disaster does not exist or occur. Mitigation strategies would have involved opening of the abandoned mines to prevent a blowout. Engineering work if very crucial which ensures that any mitigation or preventive measure was taken uses the right structures and measurements to avoid failure as observed. The EPA would also have enhanced communication with the Corps Engineers, whose report would have greatly helped the agency in implementation of the mitigation measures (Yardley, 2015 – Research Paper Writing Help Service). The EPA would also have treated the mine’s wastewaters with clumpy flocculent to enable settling of the heavy metals into the sludge in the holding pond surface preventing them from flowing downstream.

Conclusion
Gold King Mine spill was one of the most dangerous environmental disasters that involved spilling of heavy metals and other toxic substances in Animas River in Colorado. The contaminants turned river waters yellow and harmful for human consumption and for irrigating crops. The cleanup process involved neutralizing formed acid with lime or sodium hydroxide to lower the water PH to neutral. The accident would have however been prevented by taking appropriate mitigation measures which include the accurate level of the mine’s water before the EPA start working on the walls of the abandoned mine pools.

References
Pappas S. (2015 – Research Paper Writing Help Service, August). Contaminated River: Photos of a Colorado Mine Spill. Retrieved from https://www.livescience.com/51820-colorado-mine-spill-river-photos.html
Yardley, W. (2015 – Research Paper Writing Help Service, October 23). Toxic Colorado mine blowout could have been prevented. Retrieved from https://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-sej-gold-king-mine-2015 – Research Paper Writing Help Service1022-story.html

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