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2nd Spill Destroying the Remaining Upper Tisza Also
Long cr: Hungary/Pollution (VOA) Dateline: Budapest Byline: Stefan Bos
INTRO:
Hungarian officials says another huge new spill of heavy metals from
Romania is polluting Hungary's second largest river and one of Eastern
Europe's most important eco-systems. Experts and Hungarian Government
representatives say the spill took place at the same Romanian mine, where
heavy metal waste was dumped into the waters last Friday. Stefan Bos
reports from Budapest that Germany's deputy environment Minister, Gila
Altmann, has urged Romania to do more to stop the ongoing pollution.
TEXT:
Officials say the new pollution is from a dam of a mine in northwestern
Romania which burst last week, dumping an estimated 20-thousand tons of
heavy metals into the river. United Nations experts who are studying the
river Tisza, say Hungarian officials told them the latest spill is up to
35 kilometers long.
Romania's Ministry of environment denied there was a new spill and blamed
the concentration of heavy metals on reconstruction work at the dam. But
Germany's Deputy Environment Minister, Gila Altmann, who also toured the
site, described the situation as "grave". She urged Romania to solve its
environmental problems quickly, especially those regarding cross-border
waterways.
Hungarian officials say the latest spill threatens to devastate the upper
section of the river Tisza. This area was not affected six weeks ago by a
previous cyanide escape from a different Romanian site. Hungarian
authorities have banned the usage of the river's water for any purposes.
The policy officer of the World Wide Fund for Nature, Tibor Farago, says
the lead, zinc and copper associated with heavy metal pollution could find
their way into food.
ACT 1)""Heavy metals can appear in the whole chain, the whole food chain,
distorting the balance of the life in the region. If some living species
are contaminated by heavy metals, after several months, especially when it
is accumulated in these animals, (it) will make it consequences."
Hungary's increasingly frustrated Government has urged Romania to close
potential environmentally hazardous plants, arguing that failing to do so
would otherwise harm Romania's bid to join the European Union. Officials
say 96-percent of Hungary's drinking water comes from neighboring
countries. That is one of the reasons why Hungary wants to sign bilateral
agreements with its neighbors on environmental protection. But Hungarian
Foreign Ministry official Istvan Horvath told Deutsche Welle that the
talks with Romania are difficult.
ACT 2)"(The) main text of the agreement is ready, but there are some
point, especially on the recovery of damages and the remedies. These are
the hot points of the convention. It requires the acceptance of the
Romanian side. It is a very hard negotiation."
Romania has promised to analyse Hungarian proposals to prevent further
ecological catastrophes, after its Ambassador to Budapest was summoned by
the Government. Hungary has made it clear that its neighbor should not
waste any time, as the ongoing pollution could further poison relations
between the two countries.
HUNGARY, ROMANIA, UKRAINE SIGN ENVIRONMENT PACT.
Representatives from Hungary, Romania, and Ukraine gathered in the eastern
Hungarian city of Debrecen to sign an agreement to prevent environmental
pollution. Under the protocol, each country will list potential sources of
risk to the environment. The three countries are also to cooperate with
the International Danube Commission and a special EU task force set up
after a cyanide spill from a Romanian gold mine in January spread through
several European rivers. The representatives also discussed a second spill
in Romania, which released heavy metals pollution into the Tisza River
last weekend. The Romanian representative said that a new wave of heavy
metals pollution reported by Ukraine on 14 March (see "RFE/RL Newsline,"
15 March 2000) did not result from yet another spill but rather from the
leak reported earlier. VG RFE
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Unfolding environmental disasters: 
The Tiszavirág (Palingenia longicauda) one of the many unique species exterminated by the Roumanian mine spills.