Nearly one million cubic meters of toxic sludge, flooded many towns in Hungary, after a wall containing a reservoir full of toxic waste ruptured. The 12 ft. high flood swept cars off the street, killed many animals and at least 4 people, and left many people suffering from chemical burns. The red sludge in the reservoir was a byproduct of refining bauxite into alumina. The Plant was run by the Hungarian Alumina Production and Trading Company. Police examined photos of the reservoir Tuesday and have reason to believe that this disaster could have been prevented. In the photo you see the reservoir leaking small amounts of a faint red substance, that the inspector from the Government Environmental Agency ignored as they inspected it just two weeks before. Disaster commissioner Gyorgy Bakondi said, “They had found everything in order.” They plan to find experts in the field to examine to photos to further investigate the cause of the toxic flood. The possible long term environmental effects are concerns to Hungary. The Sludge was possibly radioactive and highly corrosive material contains toxic heavy metals such as lead, cadmium, arsenic, and chromium. Emergency workers rushed to pour 1,000 tons of plaster into the Marcal River in an attempt to bind the sludge and keep it from flowing on to other bodies of water. “This is an unprecedented incident that effects deeply the ecosystem, wetlands and surface water bodies of the region as well as pointing out the fragility of our drinking water reserves,” said Gabor Figeczky, the Deputy CO of WWF-Hungary.
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