The Animas River is sick…but it’s not a new issue. The health of the upper Animas has always been a disaster.
This river has not been a healthy River in over 100 years. This has been forgotten lately. Especially after the massive mine spill in Silverton last week
The photo on the left was taken hours before mine spill plume reached Durango. The photo on the right was taken 20 minutes ago. Roughly the same time of day. There is still a murky tinge to the water on the right, but it looks no different than if it had rained. Oh wait, it did rain last night. Did you know that every time it rains in#southwestcolorado, the zinc and cadmium levels go up 100% on the Animas?
Here is another fun fact, the pH and metal concentration levels have returned to roughly pre-spill levels. Don’t get us wrong, those levels are not great; but they have never been great. For years they have been declining.
If you don’t fish the Animas, then you may not know that the fish counts have been declining as well for the past 10 years. As anglers and guides who fish the Animas almost daily, we witness this first hand. Again, the Animas is sick…but it is not a new problem.
Thankfully, the trout the CPW put in the Animas as river “canaries” to see if they would die are all surviving (minus 1 out of 108, RIP little #soldier).
Insect life is also fairing very well. Thanks to the good work from#mountainstudiesinstitute who are providing this info.
“Well what about the long term effects? What about all those heavy metals deposited on the river bottom?” Well we have been living the long term effects since mining ceased in Silverton: struggling bug life and fish counts that have always walked a razor’s edge. And that junk that was deposited? That stuff has been getting deposited with spring runoff, rain storms, and landslides for the past 100 years.
The Animas is polluted. It’s not new.
Here is what matters: more people are caring about the Animas River health than ever before. Hopefully this will lead to long lasting change and a cleaner river than has been seen in many years.
Also, when both of these photos were taken, we were watching trout eat emergers just below the surface.
