Why did it change color? Animas River is a tributary of the San Juan River, which is part of the Colorado River System that stretches almost 1,450 miles through the southwest. When our river turned orange — High Country News #AnimasRiver. Why Did The Animas River Turn Orange? August 10, 2015 August 10, 2015 Coyote Gulch Animas River Watershed, Colorado River Basin, Colorado Water, San Juan Basin, Water Pollution. Navajo Times File Photo The Animas River, contaminated by an orange-colored wastewater, flows into the San Juan River in this Aug. 2015 file photo. Health and environmental officials in San Juan County are evaluating the Animas River after roughly 1 million gallons of mine waste water were released Wednesday. The Animas river, which flows through Santa Rita Park, usually bustling with river activities, is left barren as it recovers from last week’s Gold King Mine spill in Durango, Colorado. The EPA accidentally spilled millions of gallons of waste into a river, causing it to turn orange!

During the process, loose material gave way and released millions of gallons of contaminated water, turning the Animas River orange and yielding it unusable for days. By Julia Wilde. The heavy metals in the spill will persist in the sediments of the river for years to come. Unfortunately, the Animas has an unsavory orange hue to it because of a botched EPA excavating job up near Silverton at the abandoned Gold King Mine. An orange-colored discharge of sediment and minerals makes it way down the Animas River-Cement Creek junction about 4:30 p.m. Wednesday in Silverton, … The jaw-dropping before-and-after photos contrasting the pre-spill Animas River I know and love with the subsequent bright orange, acidic, heavy-metal-laden travesty are sadly accurate. August 6, 2015. A Durango & Silverton train with a K-36 pulling, rounds the curves along the cliffs edge, and above the Animas River near Rockwood, Colorado. The spill changed the color of the river to orange, and the spill was described as "devastating" by Kim Stevens, the director of Environment Colorado, who said that businesses who rely on the river for profit might have to close down. The Animas River immediately turned orange as the contaminated water devastated one of this region’s most important watersheds.