For about a year, pollutants from a defunct gold mine
have been leaking into the Rito Seco Creek near San Luis, a small
farming community in southern Colorado. The creek feeds the San
Luis People’s Ditch, the oldest irrigation ditch in the state, and
many farmers fear their water supply is being
destroyed.
The Texas-based Battle Mountain Gold
Co., the owner of the site, “had better get into high gear and do
something that’s meaningful,” says Maclovio Martinez, president of
the Costilla County Water Conservancy
District.
State officials are also pushing the
company to clean up its act. Shortly after the leaks were
discovered, state officials told Battle Mountain Gold to apply for
a discharge permit. The company ignored the request, and instead
tried to solve the problem by using snow guns to blow water from
the leaking mine into the air.
When Environmental
Protection Agency officials discovered more seeps this summer, the
Colorado Department of Health issued a notice of violation and a
cease and desist order. In late August, the company applied for a
discharge permit.
Company spokesman Les Van Dyke
says the situation has been blown out of proportion. “There is no
risk to humans or animals or plants or anything else. This is a
tempest in a teapot.”
Dave Acres of the state
Water Quality Control Division concurs. “It hasn’t manifested
itself into serious tangible environmental effects yet,” he says.
But, he adds, the company is “definitely impacting the stream.”
Several local groups want to speed up the
cleanup, and are considering legal action against the company.
Roger Flynn of the Western Mining Action Project, who has been
advising the groups, sympathizes with the community’s need for a
safe water supply. “This is the livelihood of the town,” he says.
“They’re very afraid down there.”
* Catherine
Lutz
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline An ancient ditch hits a glitch.
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