Rivers In Mexico Polluted by Mine waste
Published on by Water Network Research, Official research team of The Water Network in Government
Mexico Probes Copper Mine Spill, Waterways Polluted
About 40,000 cubic meters of wastewater from a copper mine has contaminated rivers in Mexico. Federal officials are restricting water deliveries to urban areas, including northern Sonora state's capital of Hermosillo.
Mexico's National Water Commission said on Monday it had been monitoring for chemicals in the Sonora river and its tributary the Bacanuchi since an August 7 spill caused by heavy rains at the Buenavista copper mine at Cananea. The extraction site lies about 40 kilometers (25 miles) south of Mexico's border with the United States.
Mexican media said 10 million gallons of wastewater had turned the 420-kilometer-long waterway orange, affecting 800,000 people.
Miner blamed, remedial work ordered
Mexico's environmental agency, PROFEPA, blamed the company Buenavista del Cobre and ordered the neutralization of toxins, construction of dams to prevent further incidents, and an analysis of the water's contamination level, among other measures.
According to Sonora state's water agency, the affected towns include Arizpe, Banamichi, San Felipe de Jesus, Aconchi, Baviacora and Ures, as well as Hermosillo, the state capital, which derives a limited 3 percent of its fresh water from the river. Fish and livestock have died from the poisoned water.
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