While the Animas River in Durango is a popular place for swimming, fishing and boating, some residents are drawing attention to hazardous debris lurking just beneath the water’s surface.
Resident Chad Neufeld said he’s contacted the city of Durango about an approximately 4-foot piece of metal jutting out of the river bottom near 29th Street. The debris resembles a piece of railroad track and is about 1 foot underwater, he said.
“Every day that a kid is jumping in the water there is a day that they’re potentially going to get impaled on it,” he said.
He said his former partner and his 6-year-old daughter came across the debris while playing in the river this summer. His former partner called the city to report it.
City spokesman Tom Sluis said the city is working with Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad on removing the debris, which appears to be a piece of old railroad track disposed of in the river decades ago.
“The Animas River was historically used for 100 years or more as a dumping ground for a variety of debris, including pieces of rail,” he said in a text message. “If you walk along the river you can still occasionally see pieces of old cars used to shore up the riverbank.”
D&SNG General Manager Jeff Johnson said he isn’t certain the debris is a piece railroad track, but the railroad is happy to help the city on removing the object however it can.
Sluis said a waterline upgrade about 10 years ago disturbed the riverbed, and when water levels are low – 232 cubic feet per second as of noon Thursday – old debris is revealed.
A contractor apparently used discarded pieces of rail to support the waterline when it was installed decades ago, he said. Removal of the object must be handled delicately to avoid damaging the waterline or causing unintended consequences.
The object in question is the only hazardous debris the city is aware of at this time, Sluis said.
The city is working on acquiring signage to warn users of the debris while it and the railroad figure out a way to remove the hazards, he said.
Neufeld said children are still playing in the river this fall.
“I don't know how somebody hasn’t landed on it yet,” he said, “but if somebody does, it’s going to be a trip to the hospital – if not worse.”
cburney@durangoherald.com
