Ten years after a mine spill turned a Colorado river yellow, basin awaits wider cleanup. ‘Doing things right takes time.’

Three million gallons of acidic mine drainage flooded into the Animas River basin 10 years ago, turning the southern Colorado river a mustard yellow and making international headlines.

Caused by federal contractors working to treat pollution from the Gold King Mine, the accidental release of water laden with heavy metals prompted the creation of a Superfund site and a reckoning with lingering environmental harms from the area’s mining legacy, including hundreds of abandoned mines high in the San Juan mountains.

A decade later, community members and Environmental Protection Agency staff are still grappling with the long-term cleanup of the area’s mines and tailings piles. Forty-eight of them now make up the Bonita Peak Mining District Superfund site outside Silverton. They continue