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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico officials have cleared using the Animas and San Juan rivers for drinking water, and Utah is giving the OK for its San Juan River water to be used for crop irrigation and livestock.
On Saturday evening, New Mexico Environment Department Director Ryan Flynn, Game and Fish Department Director Alexa Sandoval and Health Department Secretary Retta Ward issued a statement saying they had lifted the ban on San Juan County using the San Juan and Animas rivers for drinking water. The rivers also can be used for recreation, the officials said.
Earlier Saturday, Utah's Department of Environmental Quality says tests also clear the river for visitors wanting to use it for recreation.
Utah's agriculture department has lifted advisories against using the water saying most of the contamination from the Gold King Mine spill flowed through days earlier.
A Utah State University veterinary toxicologist says the highest levels of remaining contamination carried short-term and minimal exposure risks but posed no harm to animals, plants and soil.
Utah's agriculture agency advises farmers and ranchers to report any crop or livestock health issues they observe.
Recreational river-goers are still encouraged to bring their own water and not filter river water to drink.
Federal officials have said concentrations of metals including lead, thallium, silver and antimony have increased in Colorado's Animas River since the spill from the inactive mine near Silverton, Colorado. But they say initial tests on sediments show no risk to people using the river.
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