8BTisza

=On the 30th of January 2000, a dangerous mixture of cyanide and heavy metal leaked from Saszar waste pond located near Baia Mare, northern Romania into the Tisza river. This perished all living organisms in the lake and put many species at risk of extinction. =

**1. What was the disaster? When was it? Where was it?** On the 30th January 2000, a dangerous mixture of cyanide and heavy metal leaked from Sasar waste pond located near Baia Mare northern Romania into the Tisza River. The river was contaminated; it destroyed plants,animal’s habitat and other living species that lived there. Animals that eat fish, such as birds were also found dead in the river. The water there was no longer drinkable. Fisher-mans had no more fish to fish. The poison was left spreading through the river. ** By Soudee Syrattanakoune

2. What chemicals were involved and why are they bad for the environment and people?**

The chemicals involved in the Tisza River disaster were cyanide and heavy metal. They were discharged from the Australian- Romanian owned company in Baia Mare, Romania. The company uses and stores large amounts of water during its process of extracting non-ferrous metals from waste rock piles. The accident happened when the stored water containing Cyanide burst and flowed into the Szamos River. The cyanide was being used for the extraction of waste left over. Cyanide is an extremely toxic and potentially deadly chemical that can stop cells from using oxygen which causes the cells to die. Cyanide can be found in natural food substances such as apple seeds, peach pits and some plants. It is also the substance released when plastic burns and is found in cigarette smoke. It is used in a gas state on ships and in buildings to kill pests. Cyanide is completely colourless and exists in different forms such as hydrogen cyanide (HCN) and sodium cyanide (NaCN). The cyanide found in the Tisza River was 400 times higher than its normal concentration level. There were various factors that contributed to the death of the Tisza; they was a significant increase of concentration level of cyanide, significant rise of concentration level of heavy metals and the temperature. The temperature was at a very low degree which slowed down the process of the toxic liquid diluting in the water. The chemicals had a catastrophic impact on the environment causing complete extinction of life in the river. Drinking supplies had become threatened of becoming intoxicated which could result in deaths of many humans and animals. Even though water supplies had being reported to be intoxicated no humans were affected by this. Animals however, were. Dead fish were found floating on the river and on shore. It had been reported that nearly 100 000 kilo grams of fish had be collected. Volunteers and local fishermen were instantly sent to clean up all dead animals from the river to prevent the disease from being spread further up the food chain. The diseased could be passed on when another animal eats a dead animal from the river or even drinks the water from the river. The cyanide had an enormous affect on not only the life in the river but the people and animals around it. It will take several years for the river to return to its original state but the few extinct species will never return.

**By Sara Batleska**

**3.Describe the impact the disaster had on the environment and people?**

The Tisza disaster was caused by a burst of contaminated water which first entered the Somes River and has since travelled through Hungary, Romania and Yugoslavia, polluting numerous rivers including the Danube River. This disaster was named to be the worst environmental disaster since the Chernobyl Nuclear leak in 1986. All three countries water supplies have been intoxicated due to the excessively high concentration levels of Cyanide which were 700 times more than the permitted level. Heavy metals had also been included in this dangerous mixture. It was not only the water that had been intoxicated; fears are that the water filtering through the soil could also cause damage to plant life, grains and grass.

The Tisza River was once filled with fish: roach, tench, bream and carp but now all living organisms in the river are perished. Not even bacteria had survived. The first signs were when dead fish were found floating and found on shore. People are working fast to remove these fish which carry diseases, to stop the disease going further up the food chain and killing more animals. Hunters are also trying to keep away larger animals such as foxes from eating these fish but dead, poisoned foxes have already been found. 650 tonnes of dead fish had been found in the first week of the disaster and doubled the next. Experts say that it will take 5 years to restock the fish and 10-20 years for normal life in the river to return, though some damage is irreversible. Many species in the river are now extinct. ''Everything down to bacteria is dead. There's more life in a sewage channel than this river now. Nothing is alive. Zero.'' said Jozsef Feiler. The pollution in the River has also spread to Serbia, where about 80% of the life in the Serbian part of the Tisza River had been perished. Diseases were also capable of spreading so the Northern Serbian restaurants immediately banned fish from their menus and warned people not to swim or go near the Tisza River. The Serbian and Yugoslavian people were all outraged about how the Romanian people could let this disaster happen.

People are all devastated about the loss of a river which they called ‘The Blonde River’ because of its sandy looking appearance. Fishermen once gathered around and fished not for money, but for fun. It was more than just a hobby to them, it was a skill passed from generations to generations. Now that this is not an option anymore, all the fishermen can do is wait for the river to return to its normal self. In memory of the river, locals raised a black flag and dropped flowers into the river, as they would when someone drowns.

**By Sara Batleska**.

**5. What was done to fix the problem? Was this the best solution? **

//The people just let the cyanide run through the river, // since it was poison, they couldn't do much about it. That was probably the best solution at the time because the poison was spilt from somewhere else in the river and there was no time, the poison was travelling too fast. When the poison finish running through the river, other heavy metals has gotten into the river which will poison the whole food chain. So then the people there decided to take the fishes out. Now the river has nothing living in it. The people are waiting for the river to store back which will take a long time.

**By Soudee Syrattanakoune.**

**6.** **what mesures have been put in place to stop it happening in the future?**
All the countries near the tisza river wich included: ukraine, Romanian, slovak, hugrain and surbian, got toghter and had a plan. the plan was to train everyone, and the training was about how to overcome ecological and social impact of the chemical spill and then all the countries got that idea and spread it to the people so that everyone gets the idea does the right thing. then everyone everyone worked hard and got all the information of how to protect the river and spread the information to the different countries. they had a meeting every year to talk about how to keep the river clean and freash.


 * // By Fatuma Mohamed. //**