A river in Russia’s Norilsk has suddenly turned blood red, and the pictures have surfaced online. Panicked people from the area have been sharing pictures and the world has been wondering how could this have happened.
The wildlife near the river have fled the area as cattle and other animals refuse to drink in it. Ducks are not going into the water and it seems like the fish and other creatures of water have already died or escaped the river to go downstream.
This area is one of the most polluted in the country, this is why:
The Russian city of Norilsk is inside the Arctic Circle and it gets frigid cold here as the temperatures often drop to sub-zero levels. This area has the world’s highest deposits of nickel, copper, and palladium. And that’s why many mining companies have set factories here and eventually turned this city into the most polluted city of Russia.
As of now, the suspicion falls on Norilsk Nickel that is one of the biggest Nickel mining companies and they have a nickel smelting plant upstream of the river. The reddening could have been caused by a leak from the plant.
The bright red color is probably due to the oxidized iron contained in the waste, say experts. It’s known that some types of high-temperature or pressure oxidation processes turn any sulfide minerals into iron oxide. If mixed with water, the waste turns it bright red.
This is how the polluted water will harm every kind of life around it
Now it is being feared that this kind of leak from the factory can put the town in extreme danger. Such a high level of dangerous chemicals in the water will turn it toxic, and then it will spread to the nearby animals who will have to drink it since there is no other viable source of drinking water for them.
The water from this river is also used for irrigation and in that case, this toxin will spread to the plants and food as well.
“When that color is that red, then that isn’t water that you want to drink and that is not water you want to use for irrigational water, and you don’t want your livestock to drink it either.”
Is there a way to clean this stuff out?
The company has been furiously denying and saying that they have nothing to do with the dangerous leak that turned the river blood red.
Scientists have also said that polluted water like this can’t be cleaned since the amount of leak is too much, and they will have to handle millions of liters of water that has been contaminated. They will have just have to wait for the river to carry the toxin out as fresh water replaces it, and we don’t know how long it might take.
Featured Image Courtesy: RT