As a result of the chemical spill in Hungary, which destroyed all life in the River Marcal, other environmental threats from the ex-soviet bloc have come to light. The East of the continent is a minefield of ecological catastrophes waiting to happen. Despite efforts to comply with EU requirements, the red wave that nearly reached Budapest is a sign of the continuing risk.

Source: Associated Press

The toxic spill in Hungary is just one example of numerous potential ecological disasters in Eastern Europe.

Abandoned mines in Romania discharge waters contaminated with heavy metals into the rivers. A Hungarian chemical plant produces more than 100,000 tonnes of toxic substances every year. The ground in the Eastern region of Slovakia is contaminated with carcinogenic substances. The toxic spill in Hungary is just one example of numerous potential ecological disasters in Eastern Europe 20 years after the fall of the Iron Curtain.

With the admission of new members like Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Slovakia and the [Czech – not in original] Republic, a good part of Eastern Europe has already taken the necessary measures to avoid environmental catastrophes. Nevertheless, the spill is a reminder that there still remain serious dangers and that the clean-up operation has not yet finished. The caustic spill – the worst ecological disaster in Hungarian history – likewise forces us to examine whether or not the capitalists who assumed control of the factories two decades ago bear the blame for not having invested enough in cleaning and safety. Eight people died in the 4 October spill in a warehouse for by-products of aluminium production.

A more thorough clean-up operation was requested not only of Hungary, more advanced than the majority of the ex-soviet bloc countries in this area, but also of its neighbours who hope to join the EU, like Serbia. “What is most worrying is that we did not know about this and there might be further similar cases”, commented Andreas Beckmann, director of the programme for the Danube and the Carpathians at the World Wildlife Fund. “How many facilities might there be that could be time bombs waiting to go off?”

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There are those who warn of another potential disaster arising from seven reservoirs used as storage some 100 kilometres to the North-East of Budapest, where 12 million tonnes of waste have accumulated since 1945. This is ten times the quantity that was spilled a few days ago. “If the floodgates burst up there, a good part of Hungary’s drinking water could be contaminated”, claimed Martin Geiger, an employee of the World Wildlife Fund.

Other sites, like the Borsodchem plant in the North-East of the country, pose similar risks to groundwater. The factory emits 100,000 tonnes of the toxin PVC, which contains dioxin, the same toxic substance released by the explosion of a factory in Seveso, Italy, 34 years ago, which killed hundreds of animals and contaminated an entire town.

Slovakia, Hungary’s northern neighbour, has its own problems and its Eastern region has also been contaminated since Communist times. Bulgaria ordered the inspection of tens of waste-storage reservoirs prone to suffering cracks. One that causes particular disquiet, according to the World Widllife Fund report, is that in Chiprovtsi, in the North-East of the country, because it is located on the river Ogosota, one of the principal tributaries of the Danube.

The reservoirs filled with waste are a legacy of the soviet era, during which Moscow assigned to Hungary the production of alumina, a substance used in the production of aluminium. A facility full of corrosive waste in Romania forms part of the landscape around the port of Tulcea, on the Danube. The World Wildlife Fund reports that contamination from the facility is killing fish and birds in the area.

The Danube, the second longest fluvial waterway in Europe, seems not to have suffered too much damage on account of the Hungarian spill. The red mud disaster led to widespread alarm in Romania, where ten years ago a waste storage site ruptured in a gold mine in Baia Mare, in the North, releasing water containing cyanide that killed large numbers of fish and other animals in local rivers. It was in Romania that some of the worst of the Eastern European disasters occurred, including that of Copsa Mica, in 1989, when columns of toxic smoke emitted by a rubber dye factory contaminated houses and fields and affected both people and wildlife. The plant closed four years ago, but its effects continue to be felt and life expectancy in the area is nine years lower than in the rest of the country.