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Nearly A Century And A Half Of Pollution For Animas River

Sascha Bruck via Wikimedia
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Creative Commons License
View from an old miner's cabin outside Silverton, Colorado.

Pollution of the Animas River was going on for over 100 years before gold and silver mining died down near Silverton, Colorado in the 1990s. So the recent 3 million gallon spill isn’t the first time the Animas River has been contaminated with mine waste.

KUNM’s Elaine Baumgartel talked with High Country News Senior Editor Jonathan Thompson who explained that gold and silver mining near Silverton Colorado began in the 1870s – and then, so did the pollution of the river.

See before and after photos of the recent spill into an Animas River tributary near Silverton, Colorado from the Durango Herald here

Elaine Baumgartel was KUNM's News Director from 2013 to 2019. She was local Morning Edition host from 2007 through 2012 and she regularly hosted the station's live news and public affairs show for some years. Elaine originally came on board at KUNM as a volunteer and student employee in 2003.
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