Poisoning of the Water by Accident

It happens again and again that poisonous substances get into the water through accidents, and thus they contaminate big areas. Plants and animals die, and thereby many people irretrievably lose their basis of living. Two thirds of the water-endangering substances that get into the environment through accidents are mineral oil products. In the case of 60% of the accidents, the hazardous substances were transported in road vehicles. But accidents also happen while producing, storing, filling and handling these substances in factories and households.

Here Are a Few Examples:

About 3000 tons of gold are mined for jewellery manufacturing every year. This is done by dissolving the gold out of ground rocks with cyanide. During that process, a lot of highly dangerous waste is generated, and nobody really knows - similar to atomic waste - what will happen to it in the future. Very often, big accidents happen where the poisonous cyanide is released into the environment and therefore into the water as well. Like in Baia Mare (Rumania), where a poisonous wave of cyanide rolled over 1950 kilometres of rivers after an accident in a goldmine on the 30th of January 2000. This wave left traces of devastation in the heavily polluted sections of the rivers. Almost the entire fauna and flora were destroyed.

On the 25th of April 1986, soil, air and water were radioactively contaminated due to an accident in the nuclear power plant Tschernobyl. Humans, animals and plants took these substances in through contaminated water as well.

Diseases caused by the radioactive radiation are cancer of the lymphatic system, lung cancer, cancer of the bone, leukaemia and deformities among newborns.