{"id":2443539,"date":"2019-04-29T06:40:00","date_gmt":"2019-04-29T12:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/orange-stain-on-blue-river-in-breckenridge-fades-as-officials-watch-drinking-water\/"},"modified":"2019-04-29T06:40:00","modified_gmt":"2019-04-29T12:40:00","slug":"orange-stain-on-blue-river-in-breckenridge-fades-as-officials-watch-drinking-water","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/orange-stain-on-blue-river-in-breckenridge-fades-as-officials-watch-drinking-water\/","title":{"rendered":"Orange stain on Blue River in Breckenridge fades as officials watch drinking water"},"content":{"rendered":"
A sign warning people to keep out of the Blue River is posted in downtown Breckenridge by the Riverwalk Center on Sunday after the river was discolored a bright orange on Saturday.<\/strong>
Eli Pace \/ epace@summitdaily.com<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The heavy discharge that stained the Blue River<\/a> a bright, burnt orange on Saturday subsided overnight into early Sunday morning.<\/p>\n

Known for its clear waters, the Blue River turned bright orange Saturday with the discoloration blamed on recent precipitation causing runoff from an abandoned mine by Boreas Pass Road and Bright Hope Circle, above the Illinois Gulch area.<\/p>\n

The surrounding area is infamous for old mining activity that\u2019s lead to discolorations like this before. In 2006, the Blue River flowed orange and the Iron Spring mill site<\/a> along Boreas Pass Road, just past the town\u2019s ice rink, was pinpointed as the source of the tainted water.<\/p>\n

A warning sign asking people to keep out of the river remained in place by the Riverwalk Center in downtown Breckenridge on Sunday, as rainfall washed the orange water downriver into Dillon Reservoir and helped return the Blue River to a green tint.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe area was monitored through the day (Sunday) and the runoff issue was not present,\u201d said Red, White & Blue Fire Protection District Chief Jim Keating in a statement. \u201cThe area around the Dredge near the Riverwalk Center did have sediment remaining from (Saturday\u2019s) polluting. However, the river was running clear as normal for this time of year.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of the biggest concerns following the river\u2019s dramatic change in color this weekend has been about the safety of drinking water supplies, especially with hundreds of thousands of people living on the Front Range relying on Dillon Reservoir. The reservoir is downstream of the orange discharge in the river, but state officials and representatives of Denver Water are both saying that the drinking water should still be safe.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe continue to monitor the situation along with public health agencies and can assure Denver Water customers their drinking water is safe,\u201d said Todd Hartman, a spokesman for Denver Water, via email. \u201cMining has been a part of Colorado\u2019s history for more than 150 years and so we are prepared for events like this in our High Country watersheds.\u201d<\/p>\n

He explained that because of the size of Dillon Reservoir and the size of Denver Water\u2019s water treatment system overall, events like Saturday\u2019s runoff don\u2019t often lead to \u201ca measurable impact on water quality.\u201d Furthermore, water from Dillon Reservoir goes through water treatment plants anyway, which removes contaminants and ensures the water is safe for human consumption.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe conduct exhaustive testing in accordance with U.S. Environmental Protection Agency standards and Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment guidelines, and those tests show our drinking water is safe and meets or goes beyond federal and state requirements,\u201d Hartman said.<\/p>\n

Breckenridge is also safe because the town pulls its drinking water from the Goose Pasture Tarn, a reservoir that\u2019s well upstream of Illinois Gulch.<\/p>\n

While the public is being asked to stay out of the river, CDPHE officials say that they are continuing to monitor water quality and have yet to uncover any adverse effects on anyone\u2019s drinking water.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe department is acting swiftly and coordinating with the Department of Natural Resources; Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety; and local public health agencies,\u201d explained Jill Ryan, executive director of the CDPHE, in a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cState staff have been on scene and water system operators have been notified of the situation,\u201d she continued. \u201cThere are no known impacts to drinking water at this time. As always, after being exposed to any wild river, including the Blue River, it\u2019s necessary to wash with soap and water. It\u2019s also never recommended to drink untreated river water.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Red, White & Blue, it wouldn\u2019t be a surprise to see the orange runoff reappear in the Blue River with more precipitation and rapidly melting snow.<\/p>\n

Summit Daily News reporter Deepan Dutta contributed to this report.<\/p>\n

via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A sign warning people to keep out of the Blue River is posted in downtown Breckenridge by the Riverwalk Center on Sunday after the river was discolored a bright orange on Saturday.Eli Pace \/ epace@summitdaily.com The heavy discharge that stained the Blue River a bright, burnt orange on Saturday subsided overnight into early Sunday morning. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2443539","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-17 12:22:43","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley's Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2443539","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2443539"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2443539\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2443539"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2443539"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2443539"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}