Hungary: Toxic red sludge has reached the Danube

Hungary: Toxic red sludge has reached the Danube - Forbes.com

This is worst than the oil spill all of you complaining about the oil spill cant complainan anymore

 

Whoa, thats a bit of a statement. The Oil Spill was far worse then what has happened. And these sort of things aren't a "sludge spill is worse then oil spill" type of thing. From a people perspective, there isn't anyone who relies on the Danube to survive whereas the Oil Spill destroyed thousands of livelihoods in the Gulf.

 

tell that to the Turkish fishermen who's livelihoods were destroyed after the cyanide etc spill back in the late eighties, and all the people who depend on Black sea coastal tourism.

 

Everything I've read so far on the sludge says it is not at dangerous levels to the environment and they expect the volume of the river to disperse it completely.

 

Let's hope so

 

Its dangerous to ingest/inhale/get in your eyes, but it doesnt sound like it'll have any sort of effect on the environment. I think there was a similar damn burst in the US but with Coal Waste a few years back too.

 

If a tree falls on my car, should I not complain if my neighbor's car was stolen?

These incidents both demonstrate extreme incompetence, and (as far as I see), how it happened and how to prevent it in the future should be the points we are arguing over. No one should be arguing (or saying) that "those people should be quiet because it is worse over here".

 

The latest I’ve seen from the AP, a few hours ago, seems to lower the toxicity to the level of drinking water before it ever got to the Danube.

KOLONTAR, Hungary (AP) -- The concentration of toxic heavy metals where Hungary's massive red sludge spill entered the Danube has dropped to the level allowed in drinking water, authorities said Friday, easing fears that Europe's second longest river would be significantly polluted.
　
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News from The Associated Press

There were more gallons of the stuff, but not as bad in the toxic retention level it seems.

 

Let's hope it still encourages them to be more careful regardless it's good news though.

 

This cannot be good news for Hungary.

KOLONTAR, Hungary – The wall of a reservoir filled with caustic red sludge will inevitably collapse and unleash a new deluge of red sludge that could flow about a half-mile (1 kilometer) to the north, a Hungarian official said Sunday.

That would flood parts of the town already hit by the industrial waste on Monday but stop short of the next town to the north.

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Officials: wall of Hungary sludge lake will fall - Yahoo! News

 

Seems like another case of lax officials/cutting corners to make a profit. The sludge shouldnt have been nearly so caustic if it had been disposed of/treated properly. I imagine the caustic nature of the sludge eroded the wall containing it enough to cause the collapse, whereas properly taken care of sludge would not have done so.

 

I dunno Matt, it looks like it was an earthen dam sort of holding pond and the caustic sludge was about as toxic/corrosive as drain cleaner. Not good stuff, but probably not able to "eat its way through dirt".

Probably just an overload on a weak portion of the dam itself, but I agree most likely lax safety and inspection policies as well. The EPA here in the US does have some say in how we hold the same sort of sludge, and our holding ponds are NOT made entirely of dirt.

 

I read an article that mentioned that the toxicity of the sludge is higher then what it should be, which indicates improper disposal/treatment on the companies part. Either way, doesnt explain why the dam collapsed.

 

Yeah, I read that too. Seems that the higher than normal rains had kept the stuff from evaporating at the speed it was supposed to, and this put too much "material" into the ponds for longer than designed; increasing the time they had to hold the "strain". I agree though, this is shoddy work/inspection/planning, and should not be repeated, or not planned for.

 

Yet another dreadful mess we all could do without.

 

Looks like the government has taken the head man of the company into custody, or at least removed him from power, temporarily nationalized the company and frozen their assets to make sure the injured persons receive compensation.

Since it wasn't a "natural" disaster, but a man-made one, the tax payers won't be responsible for the tab unless it exceeds the worth of the compay. At least that is how I interpreted a news story on the tube this morning, to the best of my recollection.

 

I remembered most of the TV news item correctly.

DEVECSER, Hungary (AP) -- Police have detained the director of the aluminum company responsible for a flood of caustic red sludge that killed eight people when it burst from its reservoir last week, Hungary's prime minister said Monday.

Police said they were questioning managing director Zoltan Bakonyi on suspicion of public endangerment and environmental damage.

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News from The Associated Press