The Environmental Protection Agency at the site of the Gold King Mine spill, officials said last week.
In a notification to congressional delegations obtained by The Denver Post, the EPA was slated to begin running water through a temporary treatment system on Friday. This week, workers will fully adjust the system “for optimal performance,” the letter says.
“All the major components for the water treatment plant are now on-site,” according to the Thursday notification.
The left the EPA facing immense criticism as yellow-orange contaminants flowed from the Animas River across the southwest. In the disaster’s wake, the agency has been working to address the still-leaching mine and other area portals that are releasing contaminants.
The temporary system, , is expected to operate throughout the winter and is capable of working in minus-20-degree temperatures.
It will remove about 85 percent of “metals of concern,” according to the EPA, and discharged water will have a pH ranging from 6 to 9.
“This plant is not designed to output drinking-quality water,” the notification says.
The EPA says the new system will only address contaminants still flowing from the Gold King. While it will make some improvement to Cement Creek, the agency says the system is “not intended to be a solution to the broader problem of a discharging mine in the Upper Animas.”
The EPA says with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, Bureau of Land Management and local stakeholders
“Mines in the area have been releasing contaminated mine wastewater into the environment for decades, and addressing the situation is a complicated problem,” the letter says. “The Red and Bonita Mine, for example, continues to discharge at 350 (gallons per minute) directly into Cement Creek.”
Jesse Paul: 303-954-1733, jpaul@denverpost.com or @JesseAPaul
