The polluted waters triggered an environmental disaster eradicating life (even bacteria) from the affected rivers and 1,240 tons of fish. An immediately intensified environmental monitoring traced the hazardous substances on 2,000 km along the Tisza and the Danube down to the Black Sea.

On March 10 a second, similar accident happened about 100 km east of Baia Mare, in the Novat settling pond of the "Remin" lead and zinc mine in Baia Borsa. 20,000 cubic metres of sediments massively contaminated with heavy metals were washed via the Vaser spring into the Ukrainian Tisza.

Particularly affected by the accidents was the population of the Hungarian Tisza region. The cyanides of "Aurul" not only ruined the basis of existence of the 200 local fisher families, but also threatened drinking supply and damaged the growing tourism in the region. After all, the Tisza river with its impressive lowland landscape had been a popular holiday resort for hobby fishers from Austria and Germany.

Fishing was generally banned until June 2000. After the first accident an international expert group of the UNEP examined its after-effects and in March the Commissioner for Environment DG Margot Walstroem established a Task Force to draw up recommendations for reducing the risk of such catastrophes in the future.

The report, published last December, clearly stated that only due to favourable conditions could major damage to human beings be avoided, and also because the international alert system triggered by Romania was functioning. According to Phillip Weller, the coordinator of the WWF-Danube-Carpathian Programme and member of the Task Force, the Tisza has recovered since then, because the extinguished small organisms have been "replaced" by populations moving in from old river arms. For fish species, however, it will take years to recover and some of them – e.g. the Danube salmon – will probably have vanished forever.

Unsuitably designed (but approved) settling ponds (without emergency outlets) and inefficient monitoring were identified in the expert reports as reasons for the disaster. "The accidents were predictable and only a question of time," says Phillip Weller. Considerably worrying is also the fact that, according to an analysis by the UNDP published in May, there exist further 38 problematic industrial plants in addition to nine other dangerous mine waste deposits in the Romanian Somes-Tisza region that have caused repeated contamination accidents in the past. And an analysis of the International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River (ICPDR) does not draw a more favourable picture of the entire Tisza region. The Executive Secretary of the Commission estimates that there are about 100 risky locations in all the countries of the Danube region taken together for which a special safety and monitoring programme has to be prepared now.

The Task Force report mentioned above already includes definite proposals for the reduction of accident risks: the safety standards in mining should be raised, and cyanide should no longer be discharged into tailings impoundments. "Open cyanide tailings impoundments are causing problems throughout the world; there have been, for example, accidents in Turkey and in Canada," says WWF expert Jasmine Bachmann, who therefore demands that the recommendations be implemented soon.

In the long run, however, hazardous heavy metals constitute the biggest problem. Large amounts of lead, copper, zinc and arsenic have been washed out both from the landfill of Novat and also from other sites and have been deposited in the valley floors. An insidious contamination of the population via drinking water could continue even after the closing down of old industrial facilities – which would at least reduce air pollution.

And, as Bachmann describes the situation as a whole, "mining and industry in Romania do not only affect the environment and health, they also cause social problems since thousands of workers have been dismissed." A true light at the end of the road is tourism that has already set in since the Maramures region is very rich in cultural sights.

However, it is clear that tourism can only grow when pollution accidents and chronic environmental damage are avoided. All the neighbour countries realise today how important international cooperation is. The Tisza has already been selected for a pilot project in the frame of the implementation of the Water Framework Directive.
(Source: aqua press Int. 2/2001)
Manuela Prusa & Alexander Zinke

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