FARMINGTON, N.M. (KRQE) – Rosemary Hart loves her home on the Animas River but when she woke up Saturday she was stunned.
“We came out here together and we looked at the river and we cried,” Hart said.
What she saw was the giant orange plume accidentally released by the EPA at a Colorado mine site floating by her property. It contains a mix of heavy metals including lead and arsenic.
Hart’s family depends on a well to get their water. The toxic plume has made that water unusable.
“I’m here on my property and I cannot shower, I cannot cook,” Hart said. “I cannot do anything with the water from my water well.”
Governor Susana Martinez was in Farmington Saturday afternoon to tour the damage, eying the pollution from a helicopter.
“The magnitude of it, you cant even describe it,” Martinez said. “It’s like when I flew over the fires, your mind sees something it’s not ready or adjusted to see.”
On Saturday, much of Martinez’s anger was directed at the EPA. She says New Mexico was informed by a tribe, not the feds about the toxic plume coming the state’s way.
“They knew that that was going to flow right into the state and we could’ve worked faster and harder to minimize the impact on the state,” Martinez said.
The EPA says polluted water is still flowing out of the mine site, but at a much slower rate and that water is being treated before it makes it to the Animas River. As of 4 p.m. Saturday, the plume had reached Kirtland, NM.
Residents who drink municipal water are being assured that their water remains safe to use and was not contaminated. Those using wells within the river’s flood plain are being told not to use that water at all.
While the orange color in the river is expected to fade away, residents are worried what will stay behind afterward, especially because of the community’s reliance on the river to survive.
“My first concern is the next generations, and what they’re walking into,” Hart said.
