BUCHAREST
Romania's Environment Ministry said on Thursday that toxic waste containing cyanide had spilled into a river in the northeast of the country and could pose health hazards and kill fish. Cyanhydric acetone, used in production of detergents, leaked from a storage tank
at the Metadet chemical plant in Falticeni, 500 km (300 miles) north of Bucharest, into Somuzul Mare, a tributary of the Siret river which flows into the Danube.
The plant has been out
of operation since 2000 but still houses tanks storing chemicals. "We
estimate that 10 tons of toxic substances leaked into the river," a
ministry official told Reuters. He said that several tonnes had already
been drained out of the river.
A team of experts was monitoring
for possible spread of the cyanide into the Siret river, taking samples
to determine the concentration of cyanide on as tretch of 40 Km downstream
from the plant. The ministry official said the police was investigating
the causes of the incident. "Samples of water taken from various areas
of the Somuzul Mare showed that the river has been polluted around the
plant," he said.
Preliminary data show a
concentration of about 3.0 milligrams per litre, this compared with
the European Unions admitted levels of 0.005 milligrams. A similar incident
occurred in 2001 in the same place, poisoning fish. The ministry advised
local residents not to use water from the river or wells or eat fish
from the river.
Reported in Science Reuters - March 18th 2004 |
