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Toxic mud
From CopperWiki
Clark Fork River, US sends off a 45-car train every evening since 2005 with toxic mud, a legacy of more than a century of mining copper. The metals released into the river during mining and ore-processing became toxic threatening fish and polluting the ground water.
The contamination went undetected until 1981, when high levels of arsenic was found in the water supply.
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[edit] Havoc caused by toxic mud
In 2006, a mud volcano gushed from the ground in Sidoarjo. The steaming mud pool grew at an estimated 50,000 cubic metres a day, accompanied by hydrogen sulphide gas. The hot sludge swallowed up eight villages and smelt like rotten eggs and in some places it was 14m deep.
Engineers tried to pump the mud into the river to save some homes but environmentalists feared that pumping the mud into the river which flowed into the sea might kill off sea life in the area. They projected that it could be up to 100 years before the sea recovered.
[edit] What is toxic Mud?
Toxic mud pollutes waterways, enters the food chain through the sale of the fish caught commercially and spraying over beaches and homes.
[edit] Removing toxic mud
One eway of removing toxic mud is by dredging, which is very expensive and time taking. It also has to be economically and environemntally sustainable. The dredged mud cannot be dumped into the sea as it will harm the marine ecosystem.
[edit] Did You Know?
- Nearly 22 billion pounds of copper were extracted from Milltown Montana between 1880 and 2005.
- By the time the mud haul from mIlltown Montana ends in 2009, an estimated 3.4 million tons will have been taken away, or enough to fill 679 Olympic swimming pools.
- in 2006, toxic mud spill spurting from a part-Australian-owned gas well has been declared a national disaster by Indonesia's President, with thousands of residents in eastern Java forced to abandon their homes and fears of a greater catastrophe with the arrival of monsoon rains.
- Studies show that 128 different contaminants are possibly present in the river sediment in varying amounts. Some of the chemicals that will be dredged up include thallium, cadmium, antimony, beryllium, lead, selenium, mercury, and PCBs."
- Four villages and 19 factories have been submerged in a 240-hectare (600-acre) sea of mud in East Java that is growing up to 50,000 cubic metres a day in a major environmental disaster triggered during an oil exploration venture.
