Willows and cottonwoods sway on the banks of the Rio Sonora as it flows through the little Sonoran pueblo Baviácora. Nearby, cows graze lazily in lush green pastures on the westernmost edge of Sonora’s Sierra Madre mountain range. Even in the sticky summer heat, it’s an idyllic scene.
But local Martha Velarde said nothing has been the same in this quiet river valley since Aug. 6, 2014, when Mexico’s largest mining company spilled nearly 11 million gallons of copper sulfate acid solution carrying heavy metals into the Bacanuchi and Sonora rivers.
“The water was running orange, red, a coppery color through the entire Rio Sonora,” Velarde remembered. Neighbors started getting sick. Animals were dying. And at first, nobody knew why.
It took more than 24 hours for Grupo México’s Buenavista copper mine to notify authorities about the spill and stop the leak. Then several more days for environmental officials to close wells carrying contaminated water into people’s homes.
“Which meant that everyone, absolutely everyone living here, was in direct contact with contaminated water,” Velarde said. Unaware of spill, some people waded through the river. Many others used contaminated tap water for bathing, cooking and drinking.
For the rest of this article: https://fronterasdesk.org/content/1097126/impact-mexicos-worst-mining-disaster-5-years-later