First dead fish seen in Danube

The first dead fish have been sighted in Europe’s second longest river, the Danube, following a spill of toxic mud in Hungary, a regional chief for the disaster relief services said yesterday.

“I can confirm that we have seen sporadic losses of fish in the main branch of the Danube,” Tibor Dobson said.

“The fish have been sighted at the confluence of the Raba with the Danube,” where water samples had shown a pH value of 9.1, he said.

“Fish cannot survive at pH 9.1,” the official added.

Water alkalinity is a measure of river contamination and on a scale of 1-14, pH values of 1-6 are acid, between six and eight are neutral, and readings of 8-14 are alkaline.

“In order to save the river’s ecosystem, the pH level must be brought down below 8,” Mr Dobson said.

When the spill first occurred on Monday afternoon, readings of 13.5 were taken in the nearby Torna river.

The tiny Torna stream flows into the Marcal, which is a tributary of the Raba, which in turn flows into the Danube.

Readings earlier yesterday showed pH levels of around 10 in the Torna.

The pollution reached the main branch of the Danube at around midday and had already destroyed the entire ecosystem of the much smaller Marcal, officials announced earlier.

The toxic spill poured from a reservoir at an alumina plant in Ajka, 160 kilometres west of Budapest, which burst on Monday, sending 1.1 million cubic metres of red sludge into surrounding villages.

Four people died in one of the villages, Kolontar, from where the tiny Torna stream flows into the Marcal.

The Marcal is a tributary of the Raba, which in turn flows into the Danube, that runs from Hungary through Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania and Ukraine before reaching the Black Sea.

Romania has asked Hungary for more information on the toxic sludge spill and said it is gearing up for the risk of drinking water contamination in towns along the river.

Adrian Draghici, head of the water management authority in Mehedinti county, 400 kilometres west of Bucharest, said the pollution wave could reach Romania Saturday, adding that water quality controls have been reinforced.

Romanian authorities complain Hungary has not informed them of the exact nature of the heavy metals contained in the toxic mud.

Environmentalists have expressed alarm about the possible long-term effects of the disaster.

“The heavy metals are the danger in the long run,” Gabor Figeczky, acting head of nature protection body the WWF in Hungary, said.