Danube River struck by fish-killing dangerous red sludge spill

A massive spillage of dangerous sludge in Hungary made its way to the Danube River on Thursday. A giant reservoir containing hundreds of millions of gallons of the toxic sludge failed at a western Hungarian aluminum plant on Monday. A huge torrent of caustic industrial waste flowed into nearby towns in the Danube River drainage. Because the spillage had been diluted on its path to the Danube, officials stated the nations downstream faced less of a threat than had been first believed.

Contaminating the Danube with red sludge

At the Ajkai Timfoldgyar Zrt alumina plant which is only 100 miles west of Budapest near Ajka, a reservoir was breached which led to many being worried that Europe’s second longest waterway, the Danube River, would get dangerous sludge in it. The flash overflow of dangerous sludge killed 2 kids, an elderly woman and a 35 year old man trapped in a automobile, accounts Cable News Network. There were missing people too. Three are missing still. About 250 people were evacuated. The leak had been stopped with repairs to the breached reservoir. This was not fast enough though since the Danube River ended up with red sludge in it.

Toxic flood helped a bit in Danube

The Danube River only has one chance of surviving really. Tributaries diluted the poisonous sludge which should help a lot. There are no more fish alive within the Marcal River which got the majority of the poisonous spillage. Tibor Dobson told this to Reuters as the Hungarian catastrophe response spokesman. The sludge eventually hit the Monsoni-Danube rivers. Some of the fish there were nevertheless alive. The highly caustic pH of 13 was what the dangerous overflow unleashed. In order to thin down this, emergency crews had to cut back the alkalinity. Once the spillage had reached the Raba, it nevertheless registered a pH of 9 to 10, although there was a hope that is would have gone down substantially by then.

Toxic sludge screened to possess a substantial alkalinity

The toxic red sludge is industrial waste from aluminum production that contains heavy metals and processing chemicals. This biggest problem, Paul Younger told BBC, is that the alkalinity is very strong. A to 5 pH is quite acidic. A pH of 6 or 8 is neutral. 7 is considered safe as that is where hot tubs and swimming pools usually are. The toxic sludge is at a pH of 9. That is where the digestive system and lungs can be severely injured. Based on Younger, kitchen cleaning merchandise are like the toxic sludge. If there is contact with the skin for too long, the first layer of skin can be burned off.

Data from

CNN

cnn.com/2010/WORLD/europe/10/07/hungary.toxic/index.html?npt=NP1

Reuters

reuters.com/article/idUSTRE69415O20101007?pageNumber=2

BBC

bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11492387