From the 6-29-2011 New York Times:
With uranium prices rising, the number of mining claims (has) jumped sharply over the last few years. There have been about 3,500 claims in the Grand Canyon-area alone. If developed, they would generate toxic wastes that would threaten the Colorado River — the source of drinking water for roughly 27 million people — the aquifer and the Grand Canyon ecosystem in general.
This excerpt is not taken from a scientific journal nor is it a hydrologists’ more or less educated opinion. It’s just common sense: What happens on the surface has consequences in the aquifer below it.
Little wonder that Native Americans push against this project. . .they’ve been around for a while and may have a different perspective than we Anglos.