After Animas river spill, experts warn of next disaster: 'We were lucky this time'

Colorado mining spill that dumped 3 million gallons of toxic waste and turned river orange was the result of what industry experts call 'a ticking time bomb'

The mustard-tinged cloud of toxic wastewater that last week colored Colorado's Animas river an unappealing tangerine was not the first spill to dye the river - nor is it likely to be the last, according to engineers, if government and private industry fail to take action as they have in the past.

One expert called the mines north of Durango near Silverton and the abandoned mining town of Gladstone "ticking time bombs". Another expressed relief that the Gold King spill was not larger - if a slurry of mine waste known as tailings had spilled from the area, he said, there could have been "100 times the volume" of waste.