BUCHAREST - Spill of Lead and Zinc at Romanian Mine Again Pollute Rivers

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Mar 28, 2000 - 11:02 AM

Title: Spill of Lead and Zinc at Romanian Mine Again Pollute Rivers

The Associated Press

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) - Three weeks after thousands of tons of heavy metals-laden ore flowed down rivers in northern Romania, another spill occurred over the weekend at the same dam, officials said today.

Late Sunday, heavy rains and melting snow washed away part of the earthen wall at a dam operated by the Baia Borsa mine, allowing contaminated water to escape at a rate of 50 liters per second, officials said. That means some 4.3 tons are being discharged daily from the pond while construction work to repair the damaged wall is underway.

Today, concentrations of lead in the Tisza River at Sighetu Marmatiei, some 260 miles northwest of Bucharest, were double the European Union's safety norms, said Septimius Mara of the environment ministry. A day before, lead concentrations were three times the acceptable level.

Although weather was a contributing factor, Baia Borsa mine operators were also to blame, a statement from the Environment Ministry said.

It said mine operators did not properly mend the wall after the previous March 10 spill, which sent some 20,000 tons of heavy metal pollutants down the Tisza. The mine operators also failed to promptly notify local authorities about the new spill, the ministry said.

The incidents at the dam are the latest major spills in Romania this year. A cyanide spill in late January at the Aurul gold mine in the same region sent 130,000 cubic yards of cyanide-laden waters into a creek.

The pollution flowed into three Balkan rivers and the Danube, killing wildlife and temporarily poisoning water supplies for river communities. It devastated the Tisza, leaving behind huge quantities of dead fish and damaging the tourist trade in Hungary.

AP-ES-03-28-00 1101EST ) Copyright 2000 Associated Press. http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGIYTSDPD6C.html

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