The EPA spill that took place almost a week ago has now turned Colorado's Animas River into a mustard hue. A huge mistake by the Environmental Protection Agency which accidentally dumped millions of gallons of contaminants into the river Wednesday last week, the EPA spill effects are striking.
The orange-yellowish hue of the river brought about by the EPA spill is enough to signify that there is a huge problem that faces residents and surrounding ecosystem. Statements from scientists - who will likely say nothing but the dangers of the contamination - are still awaited, but five days following the EPA spill, answers remain few, according to CNN.
Perhaps the only certain answer is how big the EPA spill has become.
According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the size of the EPA spill is more than 3 million gallons, as compared to the initial estimate of 1 million gallons by the Environmental Protection Agency.
The severity of the EPA spill has caused the now heavy metal-filled Animas River to reach Utah by Monday, according to USA Today. The spill began from the Gold King Mine near Silverton, Colo.
New Mexico cities are also now at risk from the river's pollution, which from Animas has gone into the San Juan River.
The EPA said in a statement that it is continuing to monitor the river.
"Collection, transportation and lab analysis of metals in water is complex and time-consuming," according to the agency's statement.
The EPA has said that the spill took place after its team used heavy equipment while entering the suspended Gold King Mine near Durango. The team was supposed to pump and treat contaminated water by entering the mine. Instead, they accidentally caused the polluted waters to flow into the nearby Animas River.
Officials believe the EPA spill to be carrying heavy metals - mainly iron, zinc and copper - which exposure to can cause an influx of severe health problems such as cancer and kidney disease.
"This is a real mess," according to Max Costa, chair of the department of environmental medicine at New York University School of Medicine. "These levels are shocking."
Many were reported to be upset by both the spill and the EPA's response.
On Sunday, anger boiled over after the agency corrected their initial statement of one million gallons of toxic wastes to three million, as well as officials' unsure answers whether the EPA spill would prove a health threat to animals and humans, reported The New York Times.
State engineer Tom Blaine said in a statement from NMED that the EPA did not alert New Mexico residents immediately of the potential dangers of the spill, and neither did they notify the state directly following the accident.
Because of this, President Russell Begaye of the Navajo Nation has announced his intentions of taking legal action against the federal agency.
"They are not going to get away with this," Begaye said in a statement. "The EPA was right in the middle of the disaster and we intend to make sure the Navajo Nation recovers every dollar it spends cleaning up this mess and every dollar it loses as a result of injuries to our precious Navajo natural resources."
On Monday, Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper has declared a state-of-disaster emergency in order to allocate disaster emergency funds of over $500,000 for assessments and response expenses to the EPA spill.
