Cadmium

Where It Comes From in New Mexico

In New Mexico, the biggest risk to the public comes from pollution left behind by old mines and metal processing plants.¹˒² When water flows through old, abandoned mines, it can turn acidic and leak heavy metals into streams and rivers.² Big spills, like the 2015 Gold King Mine blowout, have washed this poison into major waterways like the Animas and San Juan Rivers.² Old sites, such as the Royal John Mine in Grant County, have also leaked cadmium into local creeks for decades.³

Cadmium can also get into the food chain.¹ For instance, testing has found high levels of cadmium in wild plants like Navajo tea growing near busy roads in northwestern New Mexico.⁴ While cadmium can sometimes be found in underground well water, the water systems below ground in New Mexico are very complicated.⁵ This means one private well might be perfectly safe, while a neighbor's well has high levels of the metal.⁵

Health Concerns

Most people are exposed to cadmium through the food they eat, but smoking tobacco is another major way the poison enters the body.¹ Long-term exposure to even small amounts of cadmium can cause severe damage to your kidneys, where the metal can stay trapped for decades.¹˒⁶ It is also a known cause of lung, prostate, and kidney cancers, and new research links it to gallbladder cancer.¹˒⁶˒⁷ Over time, cadmium can weaken your bones, making them soft and easy to break.¹˒⁶ It is also incredibly dangerous for the brain, potentially leading to learning problems and abnormal behavior in both children and adults.¹˒⁶

A critical warning: Tobacco plants soak up cadmium from the soil, making cigarette smoke a major source of this poison.¹˒⁶ Breathing in cadmium is much more toxic than swallowing it.¹ Always avoid smoking, especially around children and family members.¹

How Climate Change Exacerbates Exposure Risk

Changing weather patterns can directly increase the risk of cadmium pollution in our environment:

• Wildfires and Floods: When wildfires destroy trees and plants, the heavy rains that follow can cause massive floods.³ These floods wash exposed dirt, ash, and old toxic mining waste straight into nearby streams and rivers.³ For example, after a large fire in 2013, flooding washed toxic waste from the old Royal John Mine into Cold Springs Creek, causing cadmium levels to spike to unsafe levels.³

• Storms and Snowmelt: Heavy rainstorms and melting spring snow make rivers flow faster and harder.² This rough water stirs up cadmium-laced dirt that has settled on river bottoms from old mining spills, carrying the poison further downstream.²

How to Mitigate Exposure Risks

If you get your water from a private well in New Mexico, the state does not check your water for you; you are 100% responsible for testing it to make sure it is safe to drink.⁵

• Test your well regularly: You should test your well for cadmium, especially if you live near old mines or industrial areas.¹ The safe limit for cadmium in drinking water is 5 micrograms per liter (mcg/L).⁵

• Where to get tested: You can use certified private labs to test your water.¹ The New Mexico Environment Department, or NMED, also tests water for free at local “Water Fairs” across the state.⁵

• Practice food safety: Eat a balanced diet and always wash your fruits and vegetables.¹ If you grow root vegetables, like potatoes or carrots, in soil that might be contaminated, you should peel them and throw away the outside layers.¹

• Household safety: Never let children play with rechargeable batteries, which contain cadmium, and throw old batteries away at proper recycling drop-offs.¹ If you work around cadmium, take off your work clothes and wash up before coming home so you do not bring toxic dust home to your family.¹

• Use safe water alternatives: If your well water tests high for cadmium, use a different, safe water source for drinking and cooking, or install a specialized water filter designed to remove heavy metals.¹