CYANIDE SPILL AT BAIA MARE ROMANIA UNEP / OCHA Assessment Mission March 2000 SPILL OF LIQUID AND SUSPENDED WASTE AT THE AURUL S.A. RETREATMENT PLANT IN BAIA MARE United Nations Environment Programme, UNEP / Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs, OCHA Assessment Mission Romania, Hungary, Federal Republic of Yugoslavia 23 February - 6 March 2000 REPORT Geneva, March 2000 NOTES The views expressed in this document are those of the invited experts and do not necessarily reflect those of their organizations and institutions. For further technical details and background information, you may wish to consult web site http: //www.natural-resources.org/environment /Baiamare and http: //www.reliefweb.int/ocha_ol/index.html Copies of this report are available from web site http: //www.unep.ch/roe/baiamare.htm and http: //www.reliefweb.int/ocha_ol/index.html United Nations Environment Programme - Regional Office for Europe 15, chemin des Anémones, CH-1219 Châtelaine - Geneva, Switzerland Joint UNEP/OCHA Environment Unit - Disaster Response Branch UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs Palais des Nations - CH-1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland UNEP/OCHA Assessment Mission – Cyanide Spill at Baia Mare REPORT Table of Contents Page 1 The Mission 3 1.1 Mission Context 3 1.2 Mission Logistics and Approach 3 1.3 Acknowledgements 5 2 The Accident 6 2.1 The Extraction Process 6 2.2 Sequence of Events and Responses 6 3 Baia Mare and Maramures County: Background and History 8 4 The Aurul Plant and Operations 10 4.1 Background 10 4.2 Conceptual Design and Problems Encountered 11 5 Warning System and Actions Taken 16 5.1 The Accident 16 5.2 The Early Warning System 17 5.3 Actions Taken 17 6 Chemical and Biological Data 19 6.1 Evaluation of Local Analytical Capacity 19 6.2 The UN Sampling 19 7 Assessment of the Environmental Situation 21 7.1 Surface Water 21 7.1.1 Background Conditions 21 7.1.2 Cyanide and Heavy Metal Contamination in the Plume 22 7.1.3 The UN Sampling Results and Evaluation 28 7.1.3.1 At the Site and Its Neighborhood 28 7.1.3.2 Hungary 29 7.1.3.3 Federal Republic of Yugoslavia 29 7.1.3.4 The Danube Delta 29 7.1.3.5 Conclusions 29 7.1.4 Comparative Analysis 32 7.1.5 Ecotoxicological Evaluation 32 7.2 Sediments 34 7.2.1 Chemical Data 34 7.2.2 Ecotoxicology 36 7.2.3 Analysis of Results 37 7.3 Soil 37 7.4 Drinking Water 38 2 Baia Mare 7.4.1 Romania 38 7.4.1.1 Bozanta Mare Village 38 7.4.1.2 Downstream of Bozanta Mare 39 7.4.2 Hungary 39 7.4.3 Federal Republic of Yugoslavia 39 8 Social and Economic Implications 41 8.1 Risk/Impact Communication 41 8.2 Concerns and Perceptions of NGOs and the Population 42 8.3 Reported Damage 43 9 Conclusions 44 10 Recommendations 47 11 Appendices 50 11.1 Maps of the region 50 11.2 Mission Composition 52 11.3 Facts on Dangerous Substances 54 Baia Mare 3 1 THE MISSION On 30 January 2000, following a breach in the tailing dam of the Aurul SA Baia Mare Company, a major spill of cyanide-rich tailings waste was released into the river system near Baia Mare in north west Romania. The contaminant travelled via tributaries into the river Somes, Tisza and finally into the Danube before reaching the Black Sea. Following requests from the Governments of Hungary, Romania and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY), and consultations with European Environment Commissioner Margot Wallström and the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Klaus Toepfer, Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), announced on 18 February 2000, that a team of international experts would be sent to the affected area to carry out a scientific analysis of the environmental damage caused by the spill. The mission was a joint venture of UNEP and OCHA, organised by the Joint UNEP/OCHA Environment Unit, and headed by the Director of UNEP’s Regional Office for Europe. Its terms of reference included an independent, scientific description of the spill, the situation and events causing it, the collection and review of data related to the spill and its environmental implications, and the preparation of recommendations for future action and prevention. 1.1 Mission Context The mission represented a useful model for inter-agency cooperation and multi-disciplinary rapid assessment work. The mission was limited in size, scope and time, and consequently not intended to provide a full overview of the emergency and its implications. It mainly represented environmental input to a process of international investigation and reviews by, inter alia, the Baia Mare Task Force set up following the visit of European Union (EU) Environment Commissioner Wallström to the area. The results of the assessment mission should be seen in this context, as a starting point rather than the final conclusion. The data and conclusions will have to be refined as further study continues. 1.2 Mission Logistics and Approach The mission, which lasted from 23 February – 6 March 2000, combined sampling, analysis, interviews with relevant national and local experts, discussions with national authorities, affected populations and local Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs). Sixteen experts from seven countries (Austria, Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland) were selected at very short notice to travel to the affected areas. The composition of the expert group is given in appendix 11.2. The range of expertise included in the team covered chemistry, ecotoxicology, biology, process engineering and dam engineering. In addition to the expert group, a four-person UN Disaster Assessment and Coordination 4 Baia Mare (UNDAC) team from the Disaster Relief Branch of OCHA was dispatched to provide essential logistic and coordination support for the mission. Apart from the mission leader, UNEP’s Regional Office for Europe provided a Press Officer and a Scientific Coordinator. The mission also included representatives of the World Health Organization, the UN Economic Commission for Europe, and the European Commission delegations in Romania and Hungary. The mission had at its disposition three mobile/portable laboratories, provided by the Governments of Germany, Switzerland and the Czech Republic. Backstopping was provided by the Joint UNEP/OCHA Environment Unit, as well as by the Field Coordination Support Unit (FCSU) and the Military and Civil Defence Unit (MCDU) of OCHA’s Disaster Response Branch in Geneva with technical advice being provided by mining specialists in the UNEP Division of Technology, Industry and Economics in Paris. Considerable logistical and other support was also received from the UN Development Programme (UNDP) office in Bucharest, the UN Liaison Office (UNLO) in Croatia and the OCHA Office in Belgrade. During the entire mission, contacts were maintained and consultations held, in writing and by phone, with representatives of the International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River (ICPDR), the Regional Environmental Center (REC), the Worldwilde Fund for Nature (WWF), donor countries and others. With respect to its work in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, the mission received valuable advice and support from the UNEP/United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (UNCHS) Balkans Task Force. The team assembled in Bucharest in Romania, then traveled to the breach site in Baia Mare before crossing the border into Hungary and followed the river system down to the FRY border. Finally, sampling was undertaken along the Danube in the FRY. Through a specific sampling at the mouth of the Danube the team managed to capture evidence of the spill. Maps of the area indicating the routing and sampling work of the mission can be found in appendix 11.1. The mission divided into seven key areas of investigation : · Dam site construction and management to understand how the breach occurred · Emergency planning and early warning systems · Drinking water implications for communities potentially affected by contamination of groundwater wells and public drinking water supplies · Surface water quality including chemical, biological and ecotoxicological impacts · Sediment and soil impacts, especially with regard to heavy metal releases · Sampling and analytical methods employed by different local and national authorities to examine potential discrepancies in the measurement of contamination · Interviews and contacts with local authorities, NGOs and representatives of the population to assess the social and economic context and implications of the spill This report has been produced to provide an overview of the key findings of the mission. Subsequent specialist information detailing analytical methods and findings will be available on a special website, already established by UNEP, to allow the public authorities, industry and the public at large to follow the evolution of events and to gain a better understanding of the technical issues involved in the use of mining, emergency response procedures, etc. The site can be found on http : //www.natural-resources.org/environment/Baiamare. Baia Mare 5 1.3 Acknowledgements The mission is grateful for the full and open support of the national and local authorities in each of the countries visited. Without such access to good offices, facilities, experts, information and logistic support, the mission would not have been possible. Furthermore, the support provided by the UNDP office in Bucharest and OCHA in FRY also proved essential, as well as the assistance of the Water Research Institute in the Czech Republic, THW in Germany, the Swiss Disaster Relief together with the Swiss Agency for the Environment and AC-Laboratorium Spiez, the Swedish Rescue Services Agency together with the Royal Institute of Technology and the Swedish Environment Research Institute, the Austrian Ministry of Interior, the Finnish Environment Institute, and the Norwegian Institute for Water Research.UNEP/Global Resource Information Database (GRID)-Geneva provided valuable maps of the area and the course and particulars of the cyanide spill.