Animas River Mine Sediment Pictures above Durango

Tonight around 7:30 the sediment plume made it to Durango, although somewhat dilute from what was witnessed upstream. Much of the sediment is falling out of the water as the river meanders through the valley north of town and the river turbulence quiets. It will likely take a couple of days for the main portion of this to pass Durango completely. Keep in mind that the impacts from this event will take a long time to clear up and we will likely see this sediment stirred up with the rise and fall of the river. Given the river flows at this time of year and the slow movement from north to south, operators have had lots of time to shut down drinking and agricultural water diversions along the Animas including city of Durango water. What happens next will be determined by the test results from the EPA tomorrow.

Until we have a clear picture of the hazard, stay on the side of caution and stay out of the river.

We have word that Cement Creek and the Animas near Silverton are clearing up a bit tonight.

Here are some pictures of the sediment flow near Baker's Bridge today.

This aerial is from KOB tv. See their video HERE

Note how much sediment settled after 12 minutes 

These are from this morning south of Baker's Bridge at the East Animas Canal Diversion

TM