Environment
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Officials in Colorado on Friday reopened the Animas River to boating about a week after 3 million gallons of contaminated wastewater laced with heavy metals spilled into the popular waterway.
La Plata County, which includes the city of Durango, announced that kayakers, rafters and tubers could go back on the river. It had closed on Aug. 6, a day after federal and contract workers accidentally unleashed the plume of mustard-yellow muck from the idled Gold King Mine.
A trio of kayakers spotted on the polluted water drew worldwide attention to the spill, which flowed downstream from southwestern Colorado to New Mexico and Utah.
The shocking color, caused by iron, is gone, and the state has already cleared the water for use by water treatment plants. However, it's not known how much danger remains from other heavy metals, such as lead, that are trapped in the riverbed.
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