Superfund Cleanup:

 

It was 16 years ago when a friend of mine and myself decided to drive over to a ghost town where a creek ran through it and do a little prospecting for gold. When we got there we found the creek was being cleaned up by the EPA as a superfund site. We walked up and down the creek for a long way and there was -0- signs of life in the creek. 

Another time Carol and I went to check out another ghost town (Bonanza) and there was this nice little creek that ran through part of the ghost town. I stopped to check out the creek and I could actually see the heavy metals in the creek covering the rocks. Actually there were quite a few creeks around including one very near us that was polluted. The fact is there were so many I personally found that were polluted.

These creeks had no signs of life in them, even when rocks were turned over, no visible life was in evidence, birds would not go near them, no insects, and the same shiny layer that coats everything. Colorado had in the past many mines where heavy metals were used as well as arsenic and mercury. Where  EPA were cleaning up these creeks they were doing a good job but the progress takes years not weeks or months. 

From what I have witnessed  there are more creeks than availability to restore them. When we see these creeks it is a sad thing to witness and very costly and time consuming to clean up. We need to do a better job of taking care of our resources.