"Keena Kimmel's bookshop occupies a cozy curve along the Animas River, a place of wild sunflowers and lilacs where fisherman try their luck and kayakers glide under iron bridges. But this weekend the river was empty and Kimmel's heart broken.

'Years ago I was passing through on the way to Oregon and ended up staying because it was so beautiful,' she said, gazing over the vacant waters. 'I can't believe what's happened. I guess I'm still kind of in shock.'

Shock, sadness and anger have gripped this pretty college town in southwestern Colorado as residents struggle to understand the slow-moving environmental disaster that has transformed their crystal clear Animas River — or the River of Souls, translated from its Spanish name — into a ribbon of mustard yellow sludge."

David Kelly reports for the Los Angeles Times August 10, 2015. [2]

http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-river-mine-spill-20150810-story.html... [2]

SEE ALSO:

"Colorado River Spill: Early Tests Show Little Threat to Fish, Wildlife" (NBC News) [3]

"When Our River Turned Orange" (High Country News) [4]

"Colorado Governor Declares State of Emergency in Gold Mine Wastewater Spill" (Reuters) [5]

"Rivers Hardest Hit By Colorado Mine Waste Spill To Stay Closed Until Aug. 17" (Reuters) [6]