Mount Polley mine tailings pond breach called environmental disaster

A complete water ban affecting about 300 local residents is in effect after five million cubic metres of tailings pond effluent from the Mount Polley copper and gold mine was released early Monday into Hazeltine Creek.
That's an amount of water equivalent to about 2,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools.
Local residents are calling it an environmental disaster.
The waterways affected by the ban, which earlier included Quesnel Lake, Polley Lake, Hazeltine Creek and Cariboo Creek, now also include the entire Quesnel and Cariboo Rivers systems right up to the Fraser River.
Authorities are asking people in the region to stop using water from both rivers.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/mount-polley-mine-tailings-pond-breach-called-environmental-disaster-1.2727171