Why are polluted streams orange

The mill slimes from Silverton are now reaching us. On a scorcher of an August afternoon, a crowd gathered on a bridge over the deep-green waters of the Animas River on the north end of Durango, Colorado. A passerby might have thought they were watching a sporting event, perhaps a kayak race or a flotilla of inebriated, scantily clad inner tubers. Yet the river that afternoon was eerily empty of rowers, paddlers or floaters — unheard of on a day like this — and the mood among the onlookers was sombre.

One mingling in the crowd heard certain words repeated: sad, tragic, angry, toxic. They were here not to cheer anyone on, but to mourn, gathered to watch a catastrophe unfold in slow motion. Soon, the waters below would become milky green, then a Gatorade yellow, before finally settling into a thick and cloudy orangish hue — some compared it to mustard, others Tang. Whatever you called it, it was clearly not right. While the spill occurred just a few miles above Silverton, the impacts hit Durango the hardest.

The Animas River courses through the middle of Durango, provides a portion of its drinking and irrigation water, and over the last few decades has become the recreational and aesthetic, wild, green heart of the city.

Officials closed the river for public health reasons, shutting down hundreds of recreational boaters and tubers, not to mention the local rafting industry.

No one yet knows what will happen to the fish, the birds, the bugs and other wildlife that call the river home. We typically respond to emergencies, not cause them. Really, though, the EPA wasn't the root cause of the emergency. It was, most likely, a disaster waiting to happen and the most visible manifestation of an emergency that's been going on in the Upper Animas River Watershed for decades. Miners started going after the minerals in the s, and the river's been the victim of their pollution ever since.

Mines simply poured their tailings directly into the creeks and rivers until, in the s, downstream farmers got them to stop; the remnants of those releases can still be found under the river bed in Durango and beyond.

Then there's acid mine drainage. The portals and shafts blasted into the mountainsides hijack the natural hydrology, pulling water flowing through fractures toward natural springs into the mine tunnels. There, the water reacts with iron disulfide pyrite and oxygen to form sulfuric acid.

The acidic water dissolves naturally occurring heavy metals such as zinc, lead, cadmium, copper and aluminum. The resulting contaminated water flows out of the mine adit as if from a spring. By , when the last major mine in the watershed shut down, there were some mines in the watershed, many discharging unmitigated discharges into streams. Not a fish could be found for miles downstream from Silverton, and the impacts to aquatic life were felt in Durango, where, when the mines were still running, sensitive fish were unable to reproduce.

Superfund, which comes with a big pile of cash, seemed like the obvious approach. Besides, Superfund can be blunt; the complex Animas situation demanded a more surgical, locally-based approach. So the Animas River Stakeholders Group , a collaboration between concerned citizens and representatives from industry and federal and state agencies, was created in to address the situation.

The approach was successful, at first, but then water quality began deteriorating again. The specter of Superfund returned. Many locals, worried about impacts to property values and tourism, have again resisted. Sunnyside Gold Corp. Its owner, Sunnyside Gold Corp. So Sunnyside agreed not only to bulkhead its mine, but also to clean up abandoned mines nearby -- a sort of pollution offset project -- while continuing to run the waters of upper Cement Creek through a water treatment facility.

The snails favour slow moving water with plenty of vegetation. Here the parasite changes form and exits out into the water again. This is the stage that infects humans. If a person has contact with contaminated water the parasite will penetrate their skin and move through the body causing illness.

Some symptoms of Bilharzia: an itchy rash, headaches, abdominal pain, diarrhea, bladder infections, fever, enlarged liver and swollen veins. In South Africa Malaria is given very high priority. This disease, which also occurs as a cycle, is caused by a parasite that is transmitted by some species of female mosquitoes.

The female mosquito requires a blood meal in order to obtain sufficient energy and nutrients to produce her eggs. When a mosquito bites a human, it injects saliva into the bloodstream to prevent the blood from clotting. The parasite travels through the body and enters the red blood cells. The red blood cells eventually burst releasing the parasite into the blood stream where it is ready to be sucked up by the next mosquito.

Mosquitoes breed in water, especially dams, ponds, water tanks, old car tyres, and other hollow objects that can hold water, like tins. The best way to protect yourself from Malaria is not to leave litter lying around, and to prevent getting bitten by wearing long sleeve clothing and by applying insect repellent to your skin, especially at night. Some symptoms of Malaria: fever, headache, diarrhoea, nausea, joint and muscular pains, shivering, sweating and fatigue.

Cholera is a disease that is caused by bacteria Vibrio cholerae that is spread through water contaminated by faeces from an infected person. The bacteria produces a toxin that causes the small intestine to secrete large amounts of fluid, which leads to fluid loss, i. People who do not wash their hands after using the toilet can spread the disease.

It can also be spread when human faeces is used as a fertiliser for vegetable crops. It is important to remember that even if a person does not show symptoms of the disease, they could still be infected and spread the disease. Cholera can be found in most places where there is poor sanitation.

Some symptoms of Cholera: diarrhoea and vomiting. People who have the disease should drink plenty of clean water to prevent dehydration. The pit should not penetrate groundwater. There are 3 ways to make your water safe to drink:. Boiling water kills any germs that might be in the water. Step1: Boil water in a pot. Step2: Allow to cool. Step3: Keep this boiled water covered with a lid or clean cloth to protect it from being contaminated by flies and dirt.

Adding Bleach. Bleach is strong smelling and contains chlorine which kills harmful germs in the water. Step1: Buy a bottle of Jik, Jewel or any other kind of bleach from your local shop. Step2: Add one teaspoon of bleach to 20 litres of water. Step3: Allow to stand overnight for a minimum of 2 hours. Step4: Keep the water covered with a cloth or lid to keep out flies and dirt Your water is now safe to drink. Adding Chlor-Floc.

Chlor-Floc is a substance that makes muddy water clean and safe to drink. It can be bought from a chemist and is available as a powder or as tablets.

Step1: To use Chlor-Floc mix one teaspoon of powder with 20 litres of water and stir for a few minutes, or follow the instructions on the pack carefully. Step2: The dirt will soon settle to the bottom of the container. The clean water should be filtered through a cloth. The dirt will be left on the cloth. Step3: Be sure to keep the clean water covered. Reference: Umgeni Water. The tributary streams of the rivers draining both the southern and northern Gauteng Province are severely impacted by mining, industrial and urban activities.

The Jukskei River drains the northern part of the densely populated and industrialised Gauteng Province before flowing into the Crocodile River. The Crocodile River drains the Hartbeespoort Dam, which is a popular recreational area and serves as a raw water source for the North West Province. These rivers flow through a variety of communities before they join the Vaal River Barrage Reservoir. Within this whole region large Phragmites and Typha types of reeds wetlands occur which filter and hold water, slowly releasing it into surrounding habitats and communities.

Although most of these wetlands have arisen due to human intervention they, for the greater part, are invaluable in the protection of rivers. Wetlands and vleis present in the rivers draining southwards to the Vaal River Barrage Reservoir play an extremely important role in the natural upgrading of the water passing through them and should be protected.

Silt, originating from various old mine dumps, covers the bottom of rivers and is detrimental to most forms of water life. Here again wetlands come to the rescue as they retain the silt, thus protecting the downstream sections of the river.

Rivers draining northwards to the Hartbeespoort Dam have few wetlands and flow rapidly due to the relatively steep slopes, carrying relatively high loads of suspended material. Any drop in the speed of the rivers will cause the coarser material to settle to the bottom causing the various weirs and dams to rapidly fill with silt. Many people in Gauteng receive their water from taps. The water that comes out of these taps is very clean and healthy for humans to drink. This is because the water has gone through a major cleaning process.

Rand Water is the company that cleans the water in Gauteng. This water is originally taken from the Vaal Dam. These rivers flow through agricultural land and rural settlements with very little industry. This means that the water in the Vaal Dam is of a good quality by international standards.

From the Vaal Dam the water is transported via canals and pipelines to a water purification station. Rand water has two water purification stations in Vereeniging. When the water passes through the water purification process all the dirt particles are taken out of the water and all the germs are killed by a disinfectant called chlorine. Once clean, the water is pumped into reservoirs and then it flows into your taps. It is there that you receive enough clean water.

South Africa has, in general a limited supply of water and the quality of this water is being threatened by pollution and the destruction of river catchments. Water in South Africa is in great demand, and as the human population grows with its increasing needs for survival, the greater the demand for water becomes.

With this demand there is an increase in pollution and catchment destruction and a decrease in the quality of river water and natural environment. If we are experiencing this water situation now, what will happen in the future?

South Africa can build more dams and water transfer schemes, but this type of infrastructure is expensive and South Africans cannot financially afford them. But these solutions address the symptoms of the problem. We should be addressing the cause of the problem, i. The real solution is to change our attitudes towards water. You may be trying to access this site from a secured browser on the server. Please enable scripts and reload this page. Turn on more accessible mode.

Turn off more accessible mode. Skip Ribbon Commands. Skip to main content. Water Wise Education Water Pollution. And the EPA has been trying to designate the mines a Superfund site for years, only to come up against local resistance. The mines still aren't on the Superfund list, but the EPA has been trying to them clean up anyway. The EPA also revealed their test results—the mine water contains high levels of lead, arsenic, cadmium, and aluminum.

The bright orange color comes from sediment. The city of Durango has also stopped pumping water from the Animas River into its reservoir. Because rivers don't respect borders, the EPA is also working with the New Mexico Environment Department to evaluate effects downstream. Oh, and even more excitingly, the Animas River feeds into the San Juan river, which feeds into the Colorado, which supplies water to much of the West.