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Heavy Metal Pollution - Joint Sampling Proposed
hd: Budapest, 14 March (MTI) - The Lower Tisza Environmental Inspectorate
in Szeged (SE Hungary), and the Lower Tisza Water Authority proposed joint
water sampling and measurements by Romania, Hungary and Yugoslavia to
avoid possible eventual international disputes over the heavy metal
pollution.
Jozsef Frank, Chairman of the Csongrad County Defence Committee, told MTI
on Tuesday that the wave of contaminants is expected to reach the lower
section of the river Tisza, near the Yugoslav border, at the weekend.
The committee called on the population to avoid direct contact with water
from the river, not to give it to animals or use it for farming purposes.
Wells in the catchment area must not be used either because the swelling
river threatens to carry the pollutants into the flood plains. +++
Heavy Metal Pollution - Ban on Water Intake
hd: Budapest, 14 March (MTI) - The Disaster Prevention Directorate of
Heves county (N Hungary) has warned residents of settlements along the
Tisza river against taking water from the river even for animals until the
heavy metal pollution leaves the area, Col. Sandor Nagy, deputy head of
the directorate, told MTI on Tuesday.
Nagy said measurements show the copper content of the contaminated water
is twice the permissible amount. Zinc is 7.3 times and lead 8 times over
the acceptable level.
The pollution is expected to reach the river stretch in Heves county on
Tuesday.
Meanwhile, work has begun to dam the Kiskore reservoir at the middle
section of the Tisza in order to dilute the pollution, accelerate its
downflow and keep it in the river bed. +++
Heavy Metal Pollution - Fidesz Official Urges New Clause in Treaty
hd: Budapest, 14 March (MTI) - The deputy chairman of the ruling Fidesz
-Hungarian Civic Party, said he will urge at party forums that the
government supplement a basic treaty between Hungary and Romania to
include clauses on responsibility for ecological damage.
Lajos Kosa, who is also mayor of the eastern Hungarian city of Debrecen,
told MTI on Tuesday that the treaty, signed in September
1996, should be supplemented to include passages in which Hungary and
Romania shoulder responsibility for environmental damage caused to the
other country.
There are a lot of facilities in the catchment area of the Tisza River in
Romania which do not comply with safety requirements, and which have
caused and can cause further damage to Hungary, he said.
Kosa recalled that 'polluter responsibility' is a generally accepted
principle in the European Union.
As both Hungary and Romania are aspiring to become members of the EU, it
is essential that they acknowledge this principle, Kosa added. +++ RFE
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Unfolding environmental disasters: 
The Tiszavirág (Palingenia longicauda) one of the many unique species exterminated by the Roumanian mine spills.
