Water Monitoring Following the Hungarian Red Mud Disaster

Abstract

The wall of the red mud waste disposal facility at Ajka, Hungary ruptured on October 4, 2010. Nearly about 1 million m 3 of red mud sludge got out of the disposal facility and the neighbouring environment was heavily contaminated. In the emergency situation the top priority was put on the rescue of human lives and to provide first aid to the injured people. Many people end their lives will wear the scars caused by the caustic red mud sludge. The polluted surface waters (Stream Torna, River Marcal and River Rába) get into the River Danube therefore immediate measures had to be implemented to avoid the distribution of the pollution and to limit the spreading of the pollutants. In October 2010 the Accredited Water Quality Telemetry System devised by the Institute of Environmental Engineering, University of Pannonia and the ÖKORET Spin-off company was installed in the direct vicinity of Stream Torna and it measured and controlled the water quality at Devecser. The commencement of the dry red mud disposal treatment technology was realized by MAL Co. Ltd. on April 3, 2011 as a consequence of actions following the catastrophe. In this way the water content of the deposited red mud sludge generated was decreased from 80% to 30%. The paper deals with the results of the surface water monitoring and the emergency measures taken.

Assessing the legacy of red mud pollution in a shallow freshwater lake: long-term chemical recovery in the water column

“…Mayes et al (2011) reported rapid contaminant dilution, with the exception of depositional hotspots, in the river system affected by the Ajka accident, indicating species-specific transport rates through the system (Mayes et al, 2011). Although chemical recovery was reported to be rapid, good ecological condition in the Torna Stream polluted in the Hungarian accident is not expected to be achieved until 2021, some 11 years after the pollution event (Kovács et al, 2012). Our results indicate that chemical recovery time may be significantly longer in depositional zones with long hydraulic retention times.…”

Geochemical recovery of the Torna–Marcal river system after the Ajka red mud spill, Hungary

“…23 Longer term measures included channel dredging and the removal of red mud from affected oodplain areas. Extensive monitoring by regulatory agencies was also carried out in the year aer the disaster 24,25 while routine biological monitoring suggested wildlife recovered in the affected systems according to government press releases. 22 Recent studies based on ambient water quality monitoring data have however highlighted the persistence of As and Ni in high concentrations in the water column in the two years aer the disaster.…”