Acid spill devastates Zambia’s Kafue River

Authorities and environmentalists in Zambia concern the long-term affect of an acid spill at a Chinese-owned mine that depraved a predominant river and would per chance doubtlessly affect millions of other folks after signs of pollution were detected no longer no longer as a lot as 100 kilometres (60 miles) downstream.

The spill took location on Feb. 18 when a tailings dam that holds acidic waste from a copper mine within the north of the country collapsed, in accordance with investigators from the Engineering Institution of Zambia. The give diagram allowed some 50 million litters of waste containing concentrated acid, dissolved solids and heavy metals to head with the circulation correct into a circulation that hyperlinks to the Kafue River, Zambia’s most well-known waterway, the engineering institution said.

“It’s an environmental anxiety, truly of catastrophic end result when we take into legend the truth that Sino Metals has polluted a river on which millions of other folks depend for the livelihoods,” said environmental activist Chilekwa Mumba. He added that for native communities, “their complete livelihoods own been destroyed, they’re farmers, their soil is anxious, we are very discontinuance to reap time, two months faraway from harvest time, what they had invested in, has all long gone down the drain.”

Photos within the aftermath of the anxiety confirmed piles of unimaginative fish along the riverbank. The incident also triggered damage to maize and ground nut fields of native communities. “Forward of the 18th February, this changed into once a vibrant and alive river” said one resident, Sean Cornileus. “Now all the pieces is unimaginative, it is treasure a truly unimaginative river, grand,” he added.

The Ministry of Fisheries and Farm animals issued an advisory on the Twenty third of February advising the public no longer to enjoy any fish from the Kafue River or diversified polluted streams. One native farmer, Juliet Bulaya, recalled seeing the lime waste flowing through her fish pond within the aftermath of the dam breach, asserting “the entire fish had been swept away. I excellent stood in agony wondering what I’d attain in regards to the money I spent on the venture.”

The dam wall breach changed into once repaired on the nineteenth February 2025, and the discharge of leach residue changed into once managed. Alternatively, the extent of the human, economic and ecological affect is no longer yet identified.

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