Hungary Toxic Sludge Reaches Danube at `Favorable' Alkalinity

Hungary’s toxic-sludge spill, which killed four and injured more than 100 people, reached the Danube river today. Officials said environmental damage may be limited because the level of alkalinity is “favorable.”

Alkalinity was measured at 9.3 on the 14-point pH scale at the point where the contamination entered the Danube, said Timea Petroczi, a spokeswoman for the country’s emergency services. The pH level is 13 at the site of the spill, according to Hungary’s MTI news service.

“There is a good chance that the aquatic flora and fauna of the Danube and Raba rivers will be able to make it through this contamination,” Petroczi said. “The pH value is quite favorable. Gypsum and acid is continually being added.”

More than 1 million cubic meters （35 million cubic feet） of sludge spilled this week when a reservoir at Magyar Aluminium Zrt., or Mal, burst 160 kilometers （100 miles） southwest of Budapest. The red-colored sludge, a byproduct of alumina production, flooded the settlement of Devecser and two nearby villages in what local authorities say is an “ecological disaster.”

“It doesn’t make sense” to rebuild some of the buildings damaged by the spill, because their residents don’t want to move back to the affected area, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said today after visiting one of the villages, MTI reported. The government should help those who want to relocate, he said.

Chemical Burns

Contact with the undiluted sludge causes chemical burns, and several people have suffered eye damage, MTI said. While the sludge is a slightly radioactive, the radiation is “well below the dangerous level,” Orban said Oct. 5.

Hungarian financial markets haven’t been affected by the leak. The benchmark BUX stock index rose 0.6 percent, gaining for a fourth day after drugmaker Gedeon Richter Nyrt. bought PregLem Holding SA of Switzerland. The forint weakened to 274.49 per euro from 270.93 as investors await details of the government’s plan to cut the budget deficit. The yield on the benchmark five-year government bond rose to 6.518 percent from 6.479 percent.

“This is negligible on a macroeconomic level,” said Zoltan Torok, an economist at Raiffeisen International Bank-Holding AG in Budapest.

The spill triggered the early warning system of the International Commission for the Protection of the Danube, Executive Secretary Philip Weller said yesterday. The warning means that factories and towns along the Danube may have to stop taking water from the river.

Wildlife Endangered

The sludge initially flowed into the River Marcal, part of the Danube’s tributary system. There is “very little chance” that the Marcal’s wildlife will survive, Petroczi said today.

The Marcal flows into the Raba, which reaches the Danube at Gyor, halfway between Vienna and Budapest. The river reaches Croatia about 250 kilometers （155 miles） south of the Hungarian capital, then travels through Serbia, Bulgaria, Moldova, Ukraine and Romania before reaching the Black Sea.

Neighboring Serbia and Bulgaria are monitoring the situation closely and carrying out water tests, officials from the two countries said. While the sludge is likely to reach Romania in five days, the toxic material will be diluted by that time, the country’s Environment Ministry said today on its website.

Serbian Concern

Public concern is on the rise in Serbia, Deputy Minister for Environment Nebojsa Pokimica said. Authorities will immediately shut down water intake if the spill descends to the country’s 588 kilometer-long stretch of the river.

The Danube’s pH level can be reduced to a “completely normal” level before it leaves Hungary, Petroczi said. Pure water has a level of 7. Anything higher is alkaline, and anything less is acidic.

Magyar Aluminium, a closely held company, said a wall of the reservoir slipped on its clay base, causing it to burst. The material isn’t considered toxic under European Union rules, the company said in a statement on its website. Magyar Aluminium said it had no way of predicting the accident.

The London-based International Aluminium Institute pledged to “seek the availability of technical experts to complement the staff and experts available from Mal and local agencies.”

Magyar Aluminium accounted for 0.3 percent of global aluminum output in 2009, producing 300,000 metric tons, according to the International Aluminium Institute. Aluminum for immediate delivery on the London Metal Exchange gained 0.7 percent to $2,346.75 a metric ton on Oct. 5 and is trading at $2,343, up 0.5 percent at 4:41 p.m. today.

Hungarian authorities have started a criminal investigation into the accident, Interior Minister Sandor Pinter said at a press conference in Budapest this week.