Still no escape from Brazil’s toxic deluge
The Samarco dam burst was just the start of the worst ecological disaster in the history of Brazil
The rupture of a mining dam in Mariana on November 5 2015 was only the start of the worst ecological disaster in the history of Brazil. One year after 40-billion litres of toxic mud killed 19 people and spread out across 650km of territory, the mining waste that has yet to be removed by the operator, Samarco, could make the situation even worse. With the start of the rainy season (which will last until March) comes the risk that the mud will again pollute the rivers, kill fish and marine fauna, provoke drinking water shortages and affect the local population, from Mariana all the way downstream to the coast. In Bento Rodrigues, a Mariana suburb that was mostly destroyed by the mudslide, the mining company, co-owned by Vale and BHP Billiton, decided to build a new dam that will flood part of the land. Samarco says removing the mud would take too much time and would be too difficult. The Brazilian public prosecutor’s office opposes the work, and the company’s decision has angered the ...
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