Toxic red sludge reaches Danube
Source: Agencies |
October 8, 2010, Friday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
THE toxic red sludge that burst out of a Hungarian factory's reservoir reached the mighty Danube yesterday after wreaking havoc on smaller rivers and creeks, and downstream nations rushed to test their waters.
The European Union and environmental officials both fear an environmental catastrophe affecting half a dozen nations if the red sludge, a waste product of making aluminum, contaminates the Danube, Europe's second-longest river.
Officials from Croatia, Serbia and Romania were taking river samples every few hours yesterday but hoping that the Danube's huge water volume would blunt the impact of the spill.
The reservoir break on Monday disgorged a toxic torrent through three villages and creeks that flow into waterways connected to the Danube. Creeks in Kolontar, the western Hungarian village closest to the spill site, were still swollen and red days later, and villagers said they were devoid of fish.
The red sludge reached the western branch of the Danube early yesterday and its broad, main stretch by noon, Hungarian rescue agency spokesman Tibor Dobson told the state MTI news agency.
Danger diluted
Dobson said the pH content of the red sludge entering the Danube had been reduced to the point where it was unlikely to cause further environmental damage.
The Hungarian Academy of Science said sludge samples taken two days ago showed that the muck's heavy metal concentrations do "not come close" to levels considered dangerous to the environment. But the academy said yesterday it still considered the sludge dangerous - apparently due to its caustic characteristics.
The sludge has devastated local waterways.
"Life in the Marcal River has been extinguished," Dobson said, referring to the 40-kilometer stretch of the river that carried the red waste from Kolontar into the Raba River, which then flows into the Danube.
Dobson said the lack of immediate environmental damage to the Danube or Raba was "by no means a victory declaration," cautioning that dead fish could still turn up shortly.
Prime Minister Viktor Orban, stopping at dawn in Kolontar, described the reservoir break as a disaster unprecedented in Hungary.
The European Union and environmental officials both fear an environmental catastrophe affecting half a dozen nations if the red sludge, a waste product of making aluminum, contaminates the Danube, Europe's second-longest river.
Officials from Croatia, Serbia and Romania were taking river samples every few hours yesterday but hoping that the Danube's huge water volume would blunt the impact of the spill.
The reservoir break on Monday disgorged a toxic torrent through three villages and creeks that flow into waterways connected to the Danube. Creeks in Kolontar, the western Hungarian village closest to the spill site, were still swollen and red days later, and villagers said they were devoid of fish.
The red sludge reached the western branch of the Danube early yesterday and its broad, main stretch by noon, Hungarian rescue agency spokesman Tibor Dobson told the state MTI news agency.
Danger diluted
Dobson said the pH content of the red sludge entering the Danube had been reduced to the point where it was unlikely to cause further environmental damage.
The Hungarian Academy of Science said sludge samples taken two days ago showed that the muck's heavy metal concentrations do "not come close" to levels considered dangerous to the environment. But the academy said yesterday it still considered the sludge dangerous - apparently due to its caustic characteristics.
The sludge has devastated local waterways.
"Life in the Marcal River has been extinguished," Dobson said, referring to the 40-kilometer stretch of the river that carried the red waste from Kolontar into the Raba River, which then flows into the Danube.
Dobson said the lack of immediate environmental damage to the Danube or Raba was "by no means a victory declaration," cautioning that dead fish could still turn up shortly.
Prime Minister Viktor Orban, stopping at dawn in Kolontar, described the reservoir break as a disaster unprecedented in Hungary.
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