Romania's Cyanide Spill
Water Contamination and Political Crisis
A gold mine—jointly owned by Romania and an Australian company—dumped cyanide-tainted water into a major river in Romania in January 2000, killing fish and endangering the health of people in several countries.
Political
• Countries weigh the need to encourage investment with the need to protect their environment and people. Strict regulations are often seen as a deterrent to investment.
Economic
- Who should pay for the clean up and help alleviate the economic impact?
- Fish were killed and water resources damaged, causing economic repercussions for years to come.
On January 30, 2000, a massive spill of water with a high cyanide content occurred at the Aurul gold mine, Baia Mare, in northwest Romania. A reservoir at the mine overflowed its dam as a consequence of heavy rain and winter snowfall, and an estimated one hundred thousand cubic meters of water, with cyanide concentrations as high as seven hundred times the maximum considered safe (0.1 milligrams per liter), was released. Much of this contaminated water entered the region's drainage systems, notably the Szamos and Somes rivers, which are tributaries of the River Tisza. The pollution entered neighboring Hungary through the rivers and polluted a reservoir supplying the city of Szolnok, eighty kilometers southeast of Budapest, Hungary.
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