On October 4th, 2010, southwestern Hungary experienced one of the worst ecological disasters in recent memory. When the dam wall from a Hungarian alumina plant broke down, roughly 35.3 million cubic feet of toxic sludge spread through the Hungarian countryside (www.independent.co.uk).
The entire situation began when the Ajka alumina plant’s dam wall fell. Sludge had flowed into the Marcal River as a result. The worry here is that the spill, which for now is only in the Marcal river, will flow into the Danube (www.guardian.co.uk). Because the Danube is the second longest river in Europe, a continental disaster could ensue. Furthermore, the possible presence of arsenic and mercury in the sludge could forever poison eastern Europe’s waterways.
To make matters worse, southwestern Hungary is being ravaged. As of now, four people have been killed by the accident, with 123 injured (www.index.hu). The sludge is so toxic and noxious that there have been documented cases of it burning through clothes as well as skin. The sludge also contains a hodge-podge of other harmful elements.
Furthermore, southwestern Hungary and the banks of the Danube are known as some of the richest places for wildlife in Europe (www.bostonherald.com). This shows that junior Akhil Venkatesh is right in saying, “It’s one of the worst ecological disasters of our time.”
People around the world are enraged that more wasn’t done to prevent such a disaster. Freshman Aditya Thakur joined this angry chorus, saying, “More money should be put into improving the conditions of the processing plants.”
Additionally, junior Melissa Puskar said, “The government should create emergency procedures to salvage this.”