State environmental officials said Tuesday they’re still monitoring water in Utah section of the San Juan River, but so far they haven’t detected contamination from last week’s Gold King Mine waste spill.
The Utah Division of Water Quality has been testing San Juan River water since the weekend, a few days after millions of gallons of mine waste gushed into a tributary.
“We’re getting more information,” says DWQ’s Kim Shelley, “that confirms our initial assumption that, given all of the dilution, we won’t be able to see any of the markers within the state and there isn’t a need for people to necessarily be overly concerned.”
The plume was anticipated in Utah Sunday or Monday. But its telltale yellow-colored water never showed. Water-quality tests haven’t detected acidity that’s usually associated with mine sludge. Results from heavy metals tests don’t come in until Wednesday, but scientists suspect the river chemistry has already made lingering metals settle out. That could mean contamination will stop short of Lake Powell, a water supply for tens of millions of people.
Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy commented during a speech in Washington Tuesday that she was pained by her agency's role in the accident.
“We are committed,” she said, “to helping the people throughout the Four Corners Region who rely on these rivers for their drinking water, irrigation water and recreation. We know how important it is to them.”
McCarthy has scheduled a visit Wednesday to the streams below the abandoned Gold King Mine spill site.