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Communicating Science about the Gold King Mine Spill and Water Quality in the Animas River 

Essential Questions

  • How have geological, biological and human factors created and exacerbated acid mine drainage and water quality issues in the Animas River?

  • What ecological and human health threats might be associated with the Gold King Mine spill: initially, currently and in the future?  

  • What actions can be taken to improve the water quality in Cement Creek and the Animas River watershed?

  • What is the role of science in making policy decisions?

 

Project Reflection

 

 

  1. How have geological, biological and human factors created and exacerbated acid mine drainage and water quality issues in the Animas River?

 

GEOLOGICAL

The Geological qualities of Silverton created acid mine drainage and water quality issues in the Animas River because there used to be an excess amount of precious metals in the area. These mines also had an abundance of sulfide materials that react with water and oxygen to make sulfuric acid even before mining began. These precious metals drew miners to the area in search wealth and riches.

 

BIOLOGICAL

When the miners dug tunnels and began excavating the metals they accidently created a chemical reaction between oxygen, water, and sulfur. This increases the Ph of the water and can erode different heavy metals and can contaminate the river.

 

HUMAN FACTORS

The environment of this planet has taken an immense toll because of humanity, and it forces me to take a look at some of the ideology that drives our decisions. Ego, survival of the fittest, and competition has essentially allowed us to advance to where we are now. But it has also caused the collapse of many ancient and modern civilizations. Everywhere I look I can see these themes of humans feeling entitled to their environment and resources from the natural world. But to what extent should we be able to take from the Earth, and where is the line between taking enough and taking too much. I see American Exceptionalism everywhere and these vary humanistic traits guiding our species to make decisions such as taking gold from the mountains and then taking off when there was nothing left for us to gain. In this situation, Acid mine drainage is primarily caused by this whole idea of “Manifest Destiny”.

 

    2. What ecological and human health threats might be associated with the Gold King Mine spill: initially, currently and in the       future?

 

There are definitely many ecological and human health threats that are associated with the Gold King Mine spill. This could include the impact on drinking water, recreation, and aquatic life. In the short term, most of the toxic water was flushed out pretty quickly after the spill, so we were unable to see the long term effects of the contaminated water. There are many communities and people who depend on the Animas River on a day to day basis. This even includes people who drink the water and use it for agriculture. The initial spill caused a lot of tension and worry surrounding health threats to the ecological and human health downstream. After researching extensively about the spill and actually getting involved in the community I was able to slowly deduct that the spill was actually not as dangerous as I thought when I first heard of this. The short term health threats were minor, if anything, but we have yet to discover what the long term impact of the spill will be.

 

     3. What actions can be taken to improve the water quality in Cement Creek and the Animas River watershed?

 

The first step in improving water quality in Cement Creek and the Animas River watershed would be to get informed about how the spill happened, why it happened, mining in Silverton, and acid mine drainage in general. There are many organizations that are associated with keeping the river clean and testing the levels of metals in the river as well as organizing action to improve water quality. Currently, the EPA has started treating the water so that the heavy metals will form a precipitate and become a solid therefore decreasing the dangerous metals that would be otherwise washed downstream. In my opinion, the most impactful action you could take to improve water quality in Cement Creek would be to get engaged with discussions and organizations that are very passionate about the Animas River Watershed.

 

     4. What is the role of science in making policy decisions?

 

Science plays a tremendous role in making policy decisions because at the end of the day people can argue back and forth forever about what they believe should be done without a single bit of hard evidence backing those important decisions up. A lack of evidence can cause poorly informed decisions such as causing damage to the environment, economy, and culture. Science can take these hypothesis and test them. Science explains what we can not see with the naked eye, or with our initial biases surrounding certain topics. Science can end arguments while simultaneously creating new ones. As technology continues to advance and change and grow, my everyday life continuously reminds me of what an important role science plays in making policy decisions.

 

     5. To what degree do scientists have an obligation to communicate scientific concepts and data to the public in an                understandable manner?

 

Scientists have an obligation to communicate scientific concepts and data to the public in an understandable manner because many people have no knowledge about said concepts before looking at these concepts and data, and it is important to be concise and simple so that the audience can understand what you are trying to communicate. For example, at the beginning of our Pub Science Exhibition Project my group had a lot of information with an excess amount of vocabulary and terms that we had become familiar with using that could easily confuse anyone without a lot of knowledge on the Animas River Spill. We were critiqued by Scientists that actually worked with the Mountain Studies Institute and they told us that we should make our information more simple and more easily understandable. It is definitely a scientist’s duty to make graphs and information that is understandable by the general public because otherwise many people will not understand it’s relevance to their own lives, and they won’t care about what they are trying to convey.

 

     6. How has your understanding of scientific knowledge and/or the process of doing science changed throughout the    semester as you’ve examined and manipulated data collected by professional scientists and performed analogous    experiments to collect and analyze your own data?

 

My understanding of scientific knowledge and the process of doing science has changed throughout the semester has changed tremendously because I am constantly being reminded of how relevant and vital science is to everyday life. It was very interesting coming  from a place of all around confusion and concern about something that was very important to me (the Animas River) ,  to understanding the actual Chemistry of what was happening on a molecular level and how that impacts me and my community. It was nice to learn why the river expressed certain traits such as the orange color, and discover what the health effects would be if I swam in the river at the time of the spill, drank the river water, etc. The trip up to Silverton really opened my eyes to the reality of acid mine drainage, and without the scientific process I can say that I would have never fully understood the Animas River Spill and how it affects me.


 

Final Exhibition Project

Before deciding on a specific topic to zone in on for a final product, I considered how the Animas River Spill impacted me the most. I also considered what was the most valuable information I retained from this project as a whole in the scheme of my life. Taking these factors into account, I decided to loosly draft something along the lines of how safe the water actually was during the spill in regards to human health. I chose three of the metals that posed the most threat to human health during the spill; Arsenic, Mercury, and Lead, and researched their Chemical Properties as well as human health impacts. After researching I wanted to be able to have a tangible answer regarding how dangerous these three metals were during the time of the spill so I used graphs showing metal concentration graphed next to health standards made by the state and the EPA.

My Exhibition group created a key for unfamiliar terms and streamlined the information that was shown in the graphs into bullet points addressing what the graph means for me or you, or Tom. After assessing and analyzing the information shown by the charts we created overall statement regarding how dangerous Lead, Arsenic, and Mercury were at Rotary Park during the peak of the spill if you say, drink two liters of river water a day for more than 60 days. We concluded that if you are like most people in Durango, who use the river frequently for recreation, and you kept your lifestyle precisely the same during the spill, there would not be any adverse health effects caused by the metals to seriously harm you.

Synthesis of Copper Oxide Lab

The Synthesis of Copper Oxide Lab helped me further understand chemical reactions on a molecular level. 

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In the scheme of the Animas River Spill, I was able to more technically understand chemical reactions, I was able to connect that to the real reason the spill happened in the first place.

Throughout this project, the ability to make connections between the scientific end and the humanities perspective was extremely valuable to finding relevence and passion in my own discoveries and learning.

Learning is such an essential aspect my life, not school specifically, but the complete passion and ache to understand the world around me. It is such a pleasant surprise when school is not just making me complete tasks, but exposing me to things that inspire me, and help me connect my studies to the real world.

voices from the animas project

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