Man V. Nature: A Russian river turns red after an alleged chemical spill

A Russian river has turned an unnatural shade of red after what many are deeming to be a chemical spill contaminating the river.

As of now, the Russian authorities are investigating the situation and are trying to discover what the potential environmental implications of the alleged spill and apparent change in color are going to be, both short term and long term.

So far, all that is known regarding the source of the problem comes from the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment which stated that a broken pipeline released an unknown chemical into the river. It is also alleged that Norilsk Nickel who is the world’s biggest producer of nickel and palladium owns the pipeline.

The company, however, has denied that it was in any way responsible for the mishap. The company also went on to state that the river appeared to be no different from what it looks like on any other day, even going so far as to provide a picture of what the river looks like on any given day.  The Siberian Times reports that they have reason to believe that the picture provided by the company does not show the same stretch of river affected.

This area is known as one of the most polluted areas in the world with many reports of being made that little to no living trees exist within the area. The alarming change in color of the river is just another example of how tarnished the environment is in this area.

It is startling to see that nearly one percent of the entire sulfuric emissions in the world are emanating from this one city.  The environmental implications of that statistic alone are staggering coming from just one geographical place.  This city is home to the world’s largest heavy metal smelting complex, and the amounts of chemicals that are released yearly are truly staggering.