Workers Race To BUILD DAM Ahead Of Reservoir Rupture

 According to the article below, workers race to build an emergency dam in western Hungary as cracks in the reservoir widen, threatening to unleash a second torrent of toxic sludge. One of the biggest fears with any new spill is the danger that it could reach the Danube River. The toxicity in that main European waterway could spread it far and wide.
    . . . June


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Hungary races to build dam amid new sludge threat
Yahoo! News:  By Gergely Szakacs Gergely Szakacs – Sun Oct 10, 12:44 pm ET

BUDAPEST (Reuters) – Workers raced to build an emergency dam in western Hungary on Sunday as cracks in a reservoir widened, threatening to unleash a second torrent of toxic sludge on the village of Kolontar and nearby rivers.

About one million cubic meters of the waste material leaked out of the alumina plant reservoir into villages and waterways earlier this week, killing seven people, injuring 123 and fouling rivers including a local branch of the Danube.

Nearly a week into the disaster, a person was still missing.

Kolontar was evacuated on Saturday after cracks appeared in the northern wall of the reservoir, threatening a second spill of the toxic red sludge, which swept through neighboring areas on Monday, toppling cars and wreaking havoc in houses.

A by-product of alumina production, the thick, highly alkaline substance has a caustic effect on the skin. It contains heavy metals, such as lead, and is slightly radioactive. Inhaling its dust can cause lung cancer.

Late on Sunday the Veszprem county disaster unit advised crews and residents in the area affected by Monday's spill to wear protective masks and glasses as dust levels in some places had exceeded the health limit as the sludge was drying out.

It said the dust can irritate airways due to its alkalinity.

News agency MTI quoted environment state secretary Zoltan Illes as saying a 25-meter-long crack in the weakened wall of the sludge reservoir had widened slightly further by Sunday and the wall now looked beyond repair.

Illes said the northern wall of the reservoir could collapse "within one day or a week" and crews at the scene were scrambling to complete a new dam to protect Kolontar and the nearby town of Devecser, home to 5,400 people.

Illes said authorities had amassed plaster and various types of acids along 100 kilometers (60 miles) of the river Marcal to neutralize the high alkaline content of any new spill before it reaches the Danube, a major European waterway.

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