Early news account of the disastrous spill into a tributary of the Animas River repeatedly referred to “1 million gallons” of toxic water entering our river. We need to keep in mind that at least until Friday evening, the spill was ongoing, at rates variously quoted as 800 gallons per minute or 1,200 gallons per minute. This means that at least another million gallons spilled into the tributary between Wednesday and Thursday, and another million gallons between Thursday and Friday. And until the Environmental Protection Agency plugs the leak, toxins will continue to enter the tributary and the Animas.
To better reflect the enormity of the problem, we should be talking about “at least 3 million gallons” of toxic water, based on EPA estimates. The difference is far more than semantic.
Cathy Hartney
Durango
Editor’s note: Reader Hartney, who sent this Aug. 8, is correct. As the Herald reported Aug. 10, the Environmental Protection Agency has revised its estimate of the spill from 1 million gallons to 3 million gallons.
