Environmentalists call for caution in mercury cleanup in north

As a long-planned operation to clean up a major source of mercury pollution in northern Kazakhstan gets under way, environmentalists and academics are calling for caution in dealing with the highly toxic substance. If the operation to remove the mercury discharged into the River Nura over several decades is not carried out with care, it could create more problems than it solves, they warn.

“The work should be carried out transparently so that it is clear what is being done,” Kanat Baygarin of Kazakhstan’s Institute of Energy and Communications told IRIN from the capital, Astana.

“[The cleanup should be done] so that it does not present a threat to the people living in the area,” Baygarin said.

Dmitriy Kalmykov of the Karaganda Ecological Museum, a local environmental non-governmental organisation (NGO), which is carrying out independent public monitoring of the project, agrees that it is fraught with problems.

“If they do not deal with this waste properly, the consequences could be worse,” Kalmykov told IRIN from Karaganda, the provincial capital of the province with the same name in central Kazakhstan near the source of the pollution, in Kazakhstan’s industrial heartland. “The project is considered environmentally-dangerous,” he said.

The cleanup should be done] so that it does not present a threat to the people living in the area.

The Committee for Water Resources, which is implementing the Nura River Cleanup Project, said the mercury pollution presented a greater risk to the 1.5 million people living in the affected area than the operation to remove it.

“When the project documentation was drawn up, any possible risk was reduced to a minimum,” chief project coordinator Yevgeniy Lukinykh told IRIN from Astana. “The current situation... presents a risk to the public.”

Old factory

The mercury was discharged by the Karbid acetaldehyde plant in the town of Temirtau, some 150km from Astana, over a quarter of a century until the factory closed in 1997. A large area of riverbed and flood plain is now contaminated.

“After production closed the discharges stopped, but the results of surveys show that large quantities of mercury remain in the environment. The total volume of contaminated material and soil is around 5 million cu.m.,” Lukinykh said.

The first stage of the project, to clean the factory grounds, began in April. The construction of a facility to store the waste outside Temirtau is set to start this year and from next year mercury will be removed from the riverbed and flood plain and taken there for storage. There are also plans – from 2008 - to restore the Intumak Reservoir located on the river.

Concerns for biodiversity

Environmentalists are particularly concerned about the possible effect on biodiversity in the Korgalzhyn national park 100km from Astana, where the River Nura flows into dozens of lakes, creating a unique ecosystem.

This [mercury] could threaten Lake Tengiz. It’s a threat to the national park... It’s all cause for concern.

In summer Korgalzhyn’s Lake Tengiz – a 1,500sqkm stretch of salt water - is home to the world’s most northerly colony of pink flamingos, when an estimated 30,000 of them migrate there. Some 300 species of birds have been recorded at the lake.

“This [mercury] could threaten Lake Tengiz,” said Baygarin. “It’s a threat to the national park... It’s all cause for concern.”

Funding

Specialists are also worried about the financial aspects of the project. “This grandiose project is absolutely not financially viable,” water issues analyst Malik Burlibayev told IRIN in Almaty. “It’s one thing on paper and another in reality.”

The government has acknowledged the financial concerns and significantly increased its contribution to the operation: the project, initially set to cost US$67 million, will now receive funding of $97 million, including a $40 million loan from the World Bank.

Mercury hazard

Mercury and most of its compounds are extremely toxic. It can be inhaled and absorbed through the skin and mucous membrane. Major international health bodies, including the World Health Organization (WHO), treat mercury as an occupational hazard and have established specific occupational exposure limits.

Acute exposure to mercury vapour has been shown to result in profound central nervous system effects, including psychotic reactions characterised by delirium, hallucinations, and a suicidal tendency.

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see also
Efforts under way to save Lake Balkhash