INVESTIGATING THE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT OF THE GOLD KING MINE SPILL (CO) ON THE SAN JUAN RIVER AND LAKE POWELL (UT)

The Gold King Mine spill occurred August 5^th 2015 in Silverton Colorado, contaminating the Animas River, which feeds to the San Juan River and ultimately the Colorado River and Lake Powell. The spill released many harmful trace metals in to the river including metals such as arsenic, cadmium, and mercury. The effects of these contaminants in the water and sediment can have long term effects on the health of local populations and ecosystems. The goal of this project is to investigate the temporal and spatial variations of trace metal concentrations and its interaction between water and sediment. The elements of interest are copper, zinc, lead, arsenic, cadmium, mercury, aluminum, uranium and thorium. To achieve this goal river water and sediment samples were taken from the four transects along the San Juan River section in Utah over the course of 6 months. Two (2) water and two (2) sediment samples were collected from each of the four (4) sites, Mexican Hat, Bluff, Montezuma Creek and Aneth, on a monthly basis. In this project we were able to 1) map the rate of movement of contaminants in the San Juan River; 2) assess trace metal retention by sediments and investigate spatial and temporal effects of the spill on the river system and Lake Powell; 3) compare our results to initial investigation data published on water safety after the spill. The outcome from this project is valuable in providing information to be used to clean up the spill.