nicole mitchell is here with more. >> this mine was already leek -- leaking.nd it is one of an estimated 55,000 abandoned mines throughout the midwest. this has been causing problems and they have been trying to clean this up for decades. 40% of the head waters of wastern waterways have been contaminated from mine runoff even before this incident. and when you look at some of the stuff in this water, lead, for example, one of the readings, over 3,000 times historic levels of lead. there has been arsenic, mercury, all of these things cause cancer, birth defects, brain damage in large enough come tan makeses. it started in colorado, but as the water has flowed and different waterways get together, this has now made its way into new mexico, utah, arizona. the concern is it is heading to lake powell. as it gets into lake powell, the colorado river base -- basin goes through this. the problem was until the late '70s, there were very few many any regulations. so miners for decades and decades did whatever they wanted. and that's why you have this toxic concentration

let's bring in nicole mitchell now for today's environmental report. what exactly is this so-called blob? >> we are not talking about the horror movie. people dealing with it don't like it. it's a large area of water that is actually red in some areas and warmer than normal. the reason this happens is high pressure is sinking air, it tends to warm the air. there was a large area of this over the north pacific, even the winter before last started noticing this blob creating warmer temperatures underneath it and it's been migrating down the coast from alaska to mexico, some now getting into the puget sound. it covers 1.8 million acres in washington state, covers the shoreline, more productive than even an ocean for producing plankton, a valuable believe block in our food chain. here's how that water is getting in there. the blob off the coastline is starting to funnel into the sound, and this is a huge economic area for the state. those warmer temperatures here are up to four degrees higher than normal, and so that's having devastating results both to th

let's bring in nicole mitchell now for today's environmental impact report. this spread seems to be getting worse each day. >> this is a disaster shining a big light on a bigger problem. there are 55,000 abandoned mines like this one with that toxic brew inside, and they have polluted its estimated through the west coast about 40 percent of head waters, usually slowly but as the e.p.a. tried to clean this one, obviously there was a breach and the whole toxic sludge, heavy minerals able to get into the water way about that what are those and what does it cause? arsonic in drinking water leads to cancer. lead did he have states the body and has its calcium and nerve transmission. those are some of the type of things that are in this water. in fact, led concentrations spiking over 3,000 times historic levels near durango. let's look at where this is and where that water is all going. as we look at the gold mine and then the river coming out of this, what they hope is that because these are heavy metals, eventually they'll settle to the bottom as they get near la

. >> let's bring in nicole mitchell for today's environmental impact report. >> we've covered the south china sea before and maritime issues, because this is a big geopolitical hotbed, but environmentalists are saying this is an environmental issue, as well. this area is bounded by a number of different countries, all staking claim to this area, not just china, but the philippines, taiwan and vietnam, so you can see, we're going to might in red where the sea is and particularly the spratley islands. china started constructing artificial islands, including military structures, which has the other countries not only upset about the land grab, 3,000-acres they've claimed. some beautiful reefs in this area, but look at one, this is imagery from march and august of last year and january of this year. this is the gavin reef. it started as a speck and got built and built and now is an island with a he wilily pad and they've been doing this in different areas. construction has been going on since last year. the problem is reclaiming that -- to build it up in different areas, that's an important

more now from nicole mitchell. >> yes, we are already under an el nino and it is now forecast to peak out at its maximum intensity late this fall early this winter. in some areas of the pacific, temperatures in the water could be as many as four degrees above average. if that forecast comes true, that would make this one of the strongest el ninos in recorded history. what does that mean? some of the water temperatures are here, around he can away or thiaorequatorialareas, will allo heat up. what does this say for us ? warmer pacific waters release more heat into the atmosphere, more rising storminess. for places like california, equal above or below for average winter, for el nino year, this is an example, it can vary depending on where you are. so as we get closer to the winter we'll see more closely who is expected to get more or less as el nino contributes to storms that would come in. the down side of all this because california needs the rain, they also tend these systems that are el nino-influenced to bring more extreme rainfall. and when you already have dry ground drought cond

back to you. >> that was nicole mitchell reporting. >> we have been hearing a lot about the result of so much water pumped from the ground. she's talking about water from the sky. we are talking about pumping up from the ground. it landed sinking because of that. is it a concern. >> it is true. it's a concern. the big problem is what it does to roads, canals levies bridges, and infrastructure. but it's worrying because it can run theiality of the water down and cause it to seep into underground reservoirs. >> all right. let's talk about - there has been a couple of story lines over the years asserted with this drought. which want to break down one. some say the production of almonds are to blame. do you agree? >> no not at all. kaverl californian crops are driven by the consumers. consumers are consuming almonds at a large rate. there are new products and we are not going to tell people how to modify their diets. we'll grow what people want. if it's grown in an efficient way and it's healthy food it's a good thing, not a bad thing. >> this week u.s. senator fienstein introduced a $1.3

let's bring in nicole mitchell for today's environmental impact. nicole, the drought now in its fifth year. how long will it take to recover? >> when it takes you four or five years to get into a drought, even normal rainfall, you're looking at another three or four years to get out and we haven't even anything close to normal since 2011. you know those gallon milk jugs that we have? if they were to figure it with water and dump it over the states, it would take 11 tripleun of those. we are thinking about that in olympic sized swimming pools which hold 7,000 gallons, we would need 7,000 dumped across california to get us the water we need. of course that's not how we're going to get out of the drought. this is what the rain we would need. you're looking at the answer is it would take a couple years of steady rain and getting back in the flow once again. the other side effect of this and all the dry terrain is the fires we've seen. we do get temporary relief, the humidity goes up a little, maybe there's a little rain shower, but widespread, the weath

nicole mitchell takes a look, next. next. >> a state of emergency in parts of colorado this morning after dangerous levels of heavy metals spilled into a colorado river. we've now learned that 3 million gallons of waste from an abandoned mine spilled into the animus spilled, turning the water orange. the mine is still discharging 500-gallons per minute, but the e.p.a. says it is containing it and treating the poll looted water. high arsonic and lead levels of shown. it is only dangerous if people are exposed to them. the e.p.a. inspectors triggered the spill while investigating pollutants at the mine last week. >> a hiker found dead last week in yellow stone national park was killed by a grizzly bear. he was an experienced hiker. investigators found his body off the trail. they've set traps in the area. they say any bears involved in the attack will be killed if captured. >> the poach of of cecil the lion in zimbabwe has brought focus on illegal hunting and the conservation of endangered species. let's bring in anymore

. >> nicole mitchell. california's drought may seem a distant problem for many americans, but its impact is felt across the country. >> agriculture is a nearly $50 billion industry in california. the state is a top grower of many of our favorite fruits and vegetables as well as producer of dairy products. this means in one way or another, all of us who live in this country are consuming california's water. you can't get away from it. what do you mean? do you like ice cream nuts on the top of your ice cream? people like these things. that's only a fraction of a whole walnut. one walnut requires two gallons of water in order to grow. what about fresh fruit? everybody loves california fresh fruit. single mandarin, 42 gallons before this is ripe to pick. what about tomorrow morning getting up, going to have breakfast, cook an egg 18 gallons of water necessary for this one egg. were you to wash all of this down with a single glass of milk like this one here, the cow that is produce this milk would take on 36 ga

let's bring in nicole mitchell for today's environmental impact can you explain why that would be?> when you're in drought conditions very dry ground doesn't absorb the water as well. what we're seeing is that what you have bigger widespread long term droughts and finally get the rain, we are more be likely to have the bigger floods come with that. that's kind of a 1-2 punch. this is from texas the southern plains the drought lasted four years, finally ended this spring. from 2011-2014, $15 billion in damages and then this happened, the rain finally came in the spring particularly may report amounts, the development of a moderate el niÑo helped with that precipitation but floods, including loss of life. here's the numbers. the southern plains, texas oklahoma the brighter the reds, the more, texas 81% of the state in the worst category, exceptional, and then we got all the rain come in, oklahoma and texas set records for the month of may for how much rain came in so that led to all the flooding. you apply that to somewhere like california in as severe and a long term flood and add t