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| Toxic Spill
in Brazil - 29 March 2003 Brief Description The accident occurred over the weekend at the site of the Cataguazes de Papel Ltda, a paper and pulp company in Cataguases, Minas Gerais state, about 125 miles (200 kilometers) north of Rio de Janeiro. A reservoir used to store chemical residues burst, dumping 1.2 billion liters of toxic waste including caustic soda into to the rivers Pompa and Paraiba do Sul in southeastern Brazil. The caustic soda comes from the pulp bleaching process. Caustic soda, properly called sodium hydroxide, is used in paper mills at concentrations of 50% or higher, and at 50% concentration, it has a pH of 14. A 10% solution can burn the skin. It is a strong, caustic substance and causes severe corrosive damage. High concentrations of caustic soda (sodium hydroxide) will have an odor and may produce a burning sensation in the nose, mouth, and throat if swallowed, and on the skin. If the concentrations are that high, the people would be able to smell it and should not drink or bathe in it. Officials have said a second reservoir containing
700 million liter of the same toxic waste in the ground at the same
factory also posed spillage risks. Industria Cataguazes de Papel Ltda. The rise in the pH of the river may have killed hundreds of plants, animals and fish. Locals have been instructed not to drink or bathe in water taken from the rivers. Dead fish floated belly-up in the rivers, and people in the affected areas lined up for water from trucks. Fishing and irrigation have been banned. Swimming at some beaches where the poisoned rivers meet the sea has also been banned, officials said More than 20 towns in Minas Gerais state had been affected by the spill. Campos, a large coastal city north of Rio de Janeiro
with an estimated population of 400,000 people, had shut its water
supply and irrigation channels, leaving the all the population without
water More information on Brazil |
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