Data link pg, 30, 69-93, 33-40

In 2015 the gold king mine in Silverton, Colorado burst sending out a plume of mining
waste into the animas river turning the water into a toxic orange color. The spill infested the river
with many different non-living factors such as cadmium, lead, iron, arsenic, beryllium, zinc, and
copper. As you could assume some of the minerals in the water affect the macroinvertebrates
already living in the animas. The plume affected a lot of things in and around the animas and
the ecosystem around it. After several millions of gallons of toxic mining waste spill into a river
supporting many different species the impacts of which are in question.
How does the location in the Animas river during the plume impact the biodiversity of the
macroinvertebrates living in it? By looking at a lot of different graphs showing different areas of
the animas river and the specific kinds of taxa living in those areas during and after the plume to
see how the spill affected the different populations. We decided to go into it more and research
the populations of EPT taxa (Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, and Trichoptera) and the specific
areas in the Animas. These studies are important to know because it can help give us a better
understanding of the effects the plume had on the ecosystem in and around the river so we can
start to figure out what effects there were on other species around the area.
(Figure 1)

(Figure 2)

(Figure 4)

(Figure 3)

(Figure 5)

in the tables, looking at the data during the plume on 32nd street (figure 4) the EPT
organisms (only the first two rows) had a total count of 308 organisms. After the plume (figure 5)
it was 173 organisms (EPT), Indicating an impact on the organisms. In rotary park (figure 2)
during the plume the population was 215 organisms (EPT), after (figure 3) it was 199 organisms
(EPT). A very slight change. But if you look at total populations before and after the plume the
total number of organisms went up. There was more kinds of organisms afterward. On 32nd
street (figure 4) there was only 11 taxon of organisms in the river during the plume but after
there was 19 (figure 5) which is a big jump up in the biodiversity of the river. Using the data from
32nd street on the graph (figure 1) that the 19 taxon is normal for the river so the plume did not
affect the biodiversity on 32nd street. Now what about rotary park. During the plume (figure 2)
there was 11 different taxon of organisms, after (figure 3) there was 19. The same as 32nd
street during both times. So by using the data, the biodiversity did not change in the case of
those two locations and the plume did not affect the biodiversity of organisms for a long period
of time.

After looking at a figure 1 We have found that at rotary park, and at 32nd street there
was a rise in biodiversity from 10 hours before the Plume to 24 to 48 hours afterwards, and at
Rotary Park a week after the plume the biodiversity went back down. This data shows how the
biodiversity changes in different sections of the river. The first Graph shows how EPT
(Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, and Trichoptera) populations changed in different places before,
during, and after the plume. And what its showing is that there was more of EPT organisms for
some time after the mine spill than there was before, but after the plume it went mostly all the
way down to how it was before. This plume may have seemed like a terrible occurrence, but it
has been going on for many years, the river has been just as bad in quality, but less obviously
for many years. The plume was a spill of one of the many mines draining into the animas river,
at the confluence of cement creek and the animas river, cement creek is always orange, and
you can see the river change color and become more clouded when it reaches the confluence,
and it has been doing this for years. The plume simply made the river orange, just a change in
color due to an increase in Iron Oxide, or rust, in the water, and a small change in quality, it has
been almost exactly as bad for several years. There is almost nothing we can do about the
quality, except using more mitigation to slow the mine drainage. All we can really do is wait for
the mines to drain, build water treatment centers, or use more bulkheads.