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Press Release
PRESS RELEASE
Jointly issued by UNEP and OCHA
UNEP/OCHA report on cyanide spill released today recommends
reassessment of environmental risks of mining scheme
Geneva/Nairobi - April 19, 2000: According to the
UNEP/OCHA Report being released today, the breach occurring on 30 January
2000 in a retention dam at the Aurul S.A. gold and silver producing plant,
an Australian and Romanian owned company, was probably caused by a combination
of inherent design deficiencies in the process, inadequate operating conditions
and bad weather. Approximately 50-100 tonnes of cyanide including heavy
metals went into the Lapus, Somes, Tisza and Danube river catchment area
in Romania, Hungary and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
One of the Report's major recommendations calls for re-assessment of the
relationship between environmental "benefits and risks" of the Aurul S.A.
company and, in particular a full risk assessment study of the entire
system of remining old tailings.
Says, UNEP's Executive Director, Mr. Klaus Topfer, " UNEP is now assuming
a leadership role to help review design and operational codes relating
to the mining industry in order to ensure that this industry contributes
in a positive way to sustainable national development while minimizing
risks to local populations and the environment".
The immediate risk to human health is estimated minimal by the Report
because adequate actions to safeguard drinking water were taken in the
three countries.
The Report, however, considers chronic health impacts possible from long-term
pollution by heavy metals especially as the spill occurred in an area
already contaminated with heavy metals from a long history of mining and
metal processing. The chronic pollution risk in the region therefore remains,
the Report states, due to its number of poorly maintained and operated
plants and flotation ponds containing cyanide and/or heavy metals, many
of which continue to leak. Moreover the Report suggests pollution of surface
and ground water, as well as soils, from leakage or acute accidents, is
likely to repeat itself.
The Report makes important recommendations with regard to avoiding or
minimizing the risk of future accidents.
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It suggests a revision of existing contingency plans
to ensure an immediate warning and response as the existing ones proved
insufficient and lacking in promptness. As the plant had been classified,
according to Romanian government permits, as being of "regular" risk,
no special monitoring or contingency planning had been required. Furthermore,
the Report suggests that such a revision be carried out with relevant
partners under what is foreseen in line with Article 8 annex VII to
the Convention on the Transboundary Effects of Industrial Accidents.
In this context, the Report also recommends Romania's accession to
that Convention.
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The Report notes the inadequacy of information on risks
involved in mining and other industrial activities upstream. The need
to improve awareness-raising and information to the local population
in the settlements along the affected rivers is emphasized in the
Report. The early warning system established under the Danube River
protection Convention, the Report found however, responded adequately
in alerting neighbouring countries with the relevant authorities allowing
timely actions and measures to monitor the pollution movement, to
share information with the other countries concerned and to mitigate
and reduce the risks and impact of the spill. The Report also refers
to unnecessary concerns and potential economic losses that could be
avoided through the optimization of information flows to local communities,
NGOs and interest groups, as well as between central, district and
local authorities.
With regard to the acute effects typical to cyanide, the
Report confirms that these occurred for long stretches of the Tisza river
before it flows into the Danube.
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Effects included killing of fish and of phyto- and zooplankton
on the passing of the pollution plume. There was no possibility for
the UNEP/OCHA expert mission to verify the total estimated amount
of fish killed in the Tisza, reported upon differently in each affected
country. Aquatic micro-organisms however were found to have recovered
rapidly after the pollution wave had passed. No major fish kills were
reported however from the Danube.
The expert mission held many meetings with country laboratories
and national EPA authorities and found these to be of high reliability
and quality. Discrepancies in results of measurements of concentrations
amongst the countries, the Report explains, can be due to variations in
sampling intervals used between Romania, Hungary and Yugoslavia and the
lack of commonly agreed sets of baseline indicators for water and sediment
quality monitoring which could improve and harmonize their monitoring
systems.
Another recommendation by the expert mission is a further investigation
into the chemistry and toxic effects of cyanide and on the formation and
stability of heavy metal cyanide complexes in the aquatic system. The
Report recommends further study of the heavy metals in sediments followed
by a comparison of the present status with available data on concentrations
before the spill for a reliable assessment of the long-term risks of the
spill.
The Report calls furthermore for an urgent immediate action as a basis
for long-term drinking water improvements. These include: a hydro-geological
survey as a base for new water resources prospecting and development (in
the Baia Mare area and along the Somes river); installation of ground
water monitoring by local authorities including private wells; an inventory
of existing private wells in Romania, Hungary and Yugoslavia; an inventory,
in Romania, of polluted areas, which endanger groundwater, surface and
drinking water and the preparation of emergency water supplies, and finally,
a health survey for population in affected areas and monitoring of diseases
caused by pollution of water.
Finally, the UN report strongly advocates the need for a broad, cross-border,
longer-term environmental rehabilitation and management plan and sustainable
development strategy both for the Maramures region in Romania but also
amongst the riparian states for the entire catchment area of the Tisza
river - a strategy which would address, inter alia, the mining and related
industries, other economic activities such as tourism and fishing which
suffered losses after the spill, biological diversity requirements, and
social needs and imperatives.
In the Report, UNEP offers its support and collaboration, together with
the UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), to develop the proposal
made recently, to develop a protocol on liability and compensation, to
the UN/ECE Convention on Transboundary Watercourses and International
Lakes and to the UN/ECE Convention on the Transboundary Effects of Industrial
Accidents, in order to help settle, through an international regime, the
question of liability and compensation for similar incidents and its consequences.
UNEP's Division of Technology, Industry and Economics, is currently working
with key stakeholders to address questions regarding the mining industry
in areas such as emergency preparedness and response (APELL programme)
at mine sites; the revised design and operating codes for cyanide processes
at mines; the development of new international standards for fail-safe
concepts in tailings dams; a review of permitting and inspection procedures
of hazardous mining installations; training workshops for national inspectorates
in risk assessments and enforcement, and the publication of a "best practice
water management at mines" guide and case studies.
Background note:
The full report assessing the 30 January cyanide spill in the Romanian
mining area of Baia Mare, is the result of the United Nations Environment
Programme (UNEP) and UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
(OCHA) Joint Mission together with the UNDAC (UN Disaster Assessment Coordination)
branch of OCHA, from 23 February to 3 March 2000 in Romania, Hungary and
the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia to assess the pollution caused to the
Tisza and Danube rivers system after the cyanide spill of liquid and suspended
waste following a breach in a tailings retention dam from the Aurul Company
S.A. in Baia Mare, in the North Eastern region of Romania.
UNEP and the OCHA/UNDAC were approached by the governments of Romania,
Hungary and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, to assist in providing
a rapid, independent and objective description of the spill, the situation
and events causing it, and its impact on the environment.
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Office for the
Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) have established close cooperation
to address environmental emergencies, collaborating through a joint unit
which was established in 1994 within the Disaster Response Branch of OCHA,
Geneva. UNEP and OCHA utilized this mechanism to respond to the request
from the three governments on the spill emergency.
This mission was supported by a number of governments and included representatives
of the European Commission (EC), the UN Economic Commission for Europe
(UN/ECE) and the World Health organization (WHO). Valuable additional
support and advice was received from the UNDP office in Bucharest, and
other relevant United Nations agencies and international organizations,
including the International Commission for the Protection of the Danube
River (ICDPR), the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) and the Regional Environment
Centre (REC).
The mission’s task was also aimed at supporting the provision of advice
to respective national authorities on response activities and better accident
prevention and preparedness. The mission was an urgent fact-finding and
assessment mission comprising field visits to selected locations, supplemented
by meetings with relevant national authorities, experts, representatives
of non-governmental groups and the population.
The aim of the UNEP/OCHA report is to assist the governments in their
efforts to mitigate the consequences of the Baia Mare accident, and provide
an input to the broader framework of international cooperation with regard
to a longer-term rehabilitation programme of this region in Europe. The
report is not intended as a full overview of the emergency and all related
implications but should be seen as marking the beginning and providing
a contribution to a process of investigation and review by, inter alia,
the Baia Mare Task Force set up by the European Commission.
For further information:
In Geneva: Anders Renlund, UNEP Press Officer, Tel: 917 82 72, email:
renlunda@unep.ch, or Donato Kiniger-Passigli,
OCHA Press Officer, Tel: 917 2653, email:
kiniger-passigli@un.org
In Nairobi: Robert Bisset, Office of the Spokesman, Tel: +2542/623 084,
fax: 623 692 or email: robert.bisset@unep.org
Press Release 2000
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