By Rose Delaney, Staff Writer & Researcher for Save The Water\u2122 | February 9, 2010<\/p>\n
On the 25th of January, a dam collapsed in Brumadinho, located in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. As a result of the burst, the collapse caused a mudslide and the loss of 142 lives.1,2<\/span> Moreover, the dam\u2019s collapse released a wave of red iron ore waste, which could lead to widespread water contamination. This could endanger more lives and the environment in the months ahead. Now that no one expects to find many more survivors, the Brazilian people must face dangerous chemicals, dangerously polluted waters, and possibly severe health impacts for the survivors and their neighbors.<\/p>\n As Erin Fee, STWTM<\/span> Researcher and Writer, highlights in her article, in addition to the risks of drowning and structural damage caused by dam bursts, \u201cfloodwater is teeming with dangerous contaminants. Contaminants can be any physical, chemical, biological, or radiological substance or thing in water.\u201d3<\/span><\/p>\n Moreover, as Save The Water\u2122 Writer and Editor, Nick Law, highlights in his insightful article, since exposure to heavy metal contaminants can result in harms to human health, mines must scrupulously manage their wastewater. Therefore, mining operations must develop water management plans, in addition to water control techniques such as recycling water used for processing ore.11<\/span><\/p>\n Vale, a Brazilian mining company, operates the dam. Consequently, in the aftermath of the Brumadinho dam collapse, Vale released a list of 412 employees and contractors who were missing.5<\/span><\/p>\n Indeed, Romeu Zema, Minas Gerais State Governor, did not expect many survivors. In an interview with The Guardian<\/em>, he stated, \u201cWe know now that the chances of having survivors are minimal and that we will probably rescue bodies.\u201d2<\/span><\/p>\n Interestingly enough, the Brazilian State of Minas Gerais expedited the license to Vale to expand in December 2018 because of a “decreased risk.” However, Brazilian preservation groups claimed that issuing the license was unlawful.1<\/span> The State of Minas Gerais has since canceled Vale\u2019s license to operate the dam.8<\/span><\/p>\n Just three years before the Brumadinho dam collapse, another dam collapsed in Mariana, Minas Gerais approximately 102 miles away. In this case, it is widely considered to be Brazil\u2019s worst environmental disaster for six reasons. First, it resulted in the loss of over 600 homes. Second, it severely contaminated the region\u2019s most important river, Rio Doce.9<\/span> Third, the dam harmed mineral water supplies. Fourth, the disaster threatened the livelihoods of the region\u2019s fishermen. Fifth, nineteen people died as a result of the dam collapse. Lastly, the environmental damage caused could take the ecosystem up to 50 years to recover from the catastrophe.1,2<\/span><\/p>\n Especially important, a different mining company, Samarco, owned the Mariana dam. After the dam collapsed, the mudslide covered the village of Bento Rodrigues. But the mudslide wasn\u2019t just dirt and clean water, it contained highly toxic substances such as mercury, arsenic, lead, and other heavy metals.5<\/span> Basically, in high concentrations, these highly toxic substances in water can cause long-term illnesses such as cancer or death.11<\/span><\/p>\n Furthermore, the Mariana toxic mudslide reached the Brazilian coasts of the Atlantic Ocean.5<\/span> And the contamination was evident; 300 miles of the Rio Doce stretching to the Atlantic Ocean turned an abnormal shade of luminescent orange.6<\/span><\/p>\n Mariana displaced 350 families located near the dam and affected the indigenous Krenak Indian community. The community resides along the shores of the now contaminated river and relied on imported drinking water and food deliveries after the dam collapsed.5<\/span><\/p>\n After the dam collapsed in 2015, at least 13 people died from incessant flooding. And many communities along the river have suffered from diarrhea and vomiting as the toxic mud contaminated their water supply.<\/p>\n Significantly, it is estimated that the surviving ecosystem could take anywhere from 10 to 50 years to regenerate, including 11 native fish species on the brink of extinction.7<\/span><\/p>\n Like the Mariana dam collapse, what the long term effects of the current dam collapse in Brumadinho, including how much water it will contaminate, remains to be seen.5<\/span><\/p>\n Evidently, regulators learned few lessons from the Mariana environmental disaster. According to Marcos Freitas, Executive Coordinator of the Instituto Virtual Internacional de Mudan\u00e7as Globais (IVIG) the environmental tragedy was a direct consequence of Samarco\u2019s negligence.6<\/span> Samarco had actually predicted the potential impact of such a disaster in a worst-case risk assessment conducted six months before the dam collapsed.10<\/span><\/p>\n As Marina Silva, a former environmental minister, tweeted, “It’s unacceptable that government and mining companies haven’t learned anything (from Mariana).”5<\/span><\/p>\n Additionally, an international nonprofit organization also criticizes the lack of improvement. For example, Nilo D\u2019Avila, GreenPeace Campaigns Director, echoed Silva\u2019s statement by noting that the Brumadinho disaster resulted from the Brazilian state and its leading mining companies not making improvements since Mariana. Certainly, D\u2019Avila said, \u201cCases like these are not accidents but environmental crimes that should be investigated, punished and repaired.\u201d2<\/span><\/p>\n Although the three companies that operated the Mariana dam, Samarco, Vale, and BHP Billiton, paid millions in fines and spent more than $1 billion USD on a relief operation, no individual has been investigated or convicted in connection to those disasters.1<\/span><\/p>\n But times are changing. For example, the Brazilian police have arrested 5 people, including 3 Vale officials, in an ongoing investigation into the Brumadinho disaster.12<\/span><\/p>\n Undoubtedly, the planet is consistently exposed to the threat of water contamination such as the \u201cBrumadinho\u201d and \u201cMariana\u201d dam collapses in Brazil.<\/p>\n Therefore, the importance of adopting water purification processes is vital, especially to prevent what press outlet \u201cEstado de S\u00e3o Paulo\u201d has described as ongoing \u201cunpreparedness, administrative incompetence, technical incapacity, and political irresponsibility\u201d in the face of natural disasters.13<\/span><\/p>\n In other words, by drawing on lessons learned and executing effective disaster prevention planning, we could mitigate the threats posed by natural disasters ahead of time.<\/p>\n As Erin Fee, STWTM<\/span> Staff Writer and Researcher points out in her article, \u201cThese processes need to be affordable, efficient, comprehensive, and reliable.\u201d For example, at Save the WaterTM<\/span> we have found great potential in electroflocculation as a means to decontaminate large volumes of water.3<\/span><\/p>\n Here are three ways you can help:<\/p>\n By Rose Delaney, Staff Writer & Researcher for Save The Water\u2122 | February 9, 2010 Brumadinho Dam…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12812,"featured_media":115154,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45,52],"tags":[156,159,534],"yst_prominent_words":[1069,1065,1058,1054,1059,1056,1063,1057,1067,1064,1068,1061,1066,1060,693,687,1062,1055,612,702],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/savethewater.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97822"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/savethewater.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/savethewater.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/savethewater.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12812"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/savethewater.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97822"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/savethewater.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97822\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":115157,"href":"https:\/\/savethewater.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97822\/revisions\/115157"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/savethewater.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/115154"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/savethewater.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97822"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/savethewater.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97822"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/savethewater.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97822"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/savethewater.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=97822"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\u201cUnlawful\u201d Mining Risk<\/h2>\n
Devastation Caused by 2015 \u201cMariana\u201d Dam Collapse<\/h2>\n
Long-term Effects of Mining Dams that Collapsed<\/h2>\n
Times Are Finally Changing<\/h2>\n
Save the WaterTM<\/span> Solution to Threats Posed by Floodwater<\/h2>\n
Dam Collapses in Brazil: Three Ways You Can Help<\/h2>\n
\n
References<\/h2>\n
\n
\nhttp:\/\/webdoc.france24.com\/brazil-dam-mining-disaster-mariana\/<\/li>\n