Fremont County residents living near the former Cotter Uranium Mill site south of Cañon City can have their well water tested for heavy metals for free on Saturday. 

The board of the Colorado Citizens Against Toxic Waste worked with Michael Ketterer, an environmental chemist and professor emeritus with Northern Arizona University, to bring a traveling laboratory to town that can identify heavy metals and radioactive isotopes. The technology in the lab is the same as those used by cities to test water. 

“There’s definitely a need for people to find out what’s in their water,” Ketterer said in a news release. “Some people could be drinking contaminated water for decades and not even know it.”

The Lincoln Park/Cotter Superfund Site is contaminated with materials including elements of uranium, molybdenum, lead, thallium, antimony, cadmium, arsenic, chromium and thorium.

The testing could be particularly valuable to those with wells in the Lincoln Park area who may want to use their wells during the ongoing drought, the news release said.

The environmental testing lab will provide testing in different communities through October, the release said.

Residents can pick up a water sample vial and submission form ahead of the April 25 open house. Stop by the Royal Gorge Chamber Alliance, 816 Royal Gorge Blvd, or the Fremont Conservation District, 248 Dozier Ave. 

Samples and paperwork will be accepted from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at Gateway Depot Park at 9th and Royal Gorge Boulevard in Cañon City.

Each sample will receive an individual report. Results are expected as early as late May.