January 2000
Baia Mare, Romania
|
|
On January 30, 2000, a dam breach in a holding pond at a Romanian gold mine caused a catastrophic cyanide spill into a tributary of Romania's Tisza River. The spill has been called one of Europe's worst river pollution accidents. At least 200 tons of dead fish were hauled from the river, and the drinking water supply for millions of people was severely contaminated. Eighty percent of the fish in the river died, and environmentalists in the region say it will take years for aquatic life, including bacteria, to recover to normal levels in the Tisza. Furthermore, farmers and biologists warn that groundwater and surface water contamination continues to threaten birds and wildlife as well as the human residents of the Baia Mare region. Countries downstream, including Hungary, Serbia, and Bulgaria, are watching for further signs of contamination in this tributary of the Danube River.
The Australian corporation that owns the Baia Mare mine declines responsibility for the spill and denies that the poisoning is as severe as local residents and regional ecologists claim. Peak concentrations of cyanide in this spill reached 20 times the acceptable European cyanide levels.
Because cyanide is widely used to process and separate gold ore, cyanide poisoning is an environmental problem in many gold-mining regions. This is not the first reported spill of cyanide-tainted water in this area. Livestock died, and farm produce was polluted in the summer of 1999 as pipes leaked into nearby farmlands. Just a few weeks after the Baia Mare spill, reports emerged of similar spills at a different mine along the Tisza. Once again, heavy rains and snowmelt caused an earthen dam to fail, this time releasing some 20,000 tons of toxic lead, zinc, and other metals into the river. Ironically, this spill resulted in part from inadequate repairs after repeated earlier dam failures.
To learn more, see these related websites:
Collected reports from Hungarian news agency
Report on deaths of rare Hungarian river otters
To read more, see:
Environmental Science, A Global Concern, Cunningham and Saigo, 6th ed.
Environmental effects of mining, pp. 360-64
Water pollution, pp. 447-55
Water quality in Eastern Europe, pp. 458-59
Environmental Science, A Study of Interrelationships, Enger and Smith, 7th ed.
Effects of mining, pp. 189-90
Fish kills, p. 202
Industrial water pollution, p. 287
feedback form |
permissions |
international |
locate your campus rep |
request a review copy
Copyright ©2001 The McGraw-Hill Companies.
digital solutions |
publish with us |
customer service |
mhhe home
Any use is subject to the
Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
McGraw-Hill Higher Education is one of the many fine businesses of the
The McGraw-Hill Companies.