MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 18th June, 2020) The critical concentration of aluminum in Russia's Vuonnemyok river, which flows into Umbozero lake, where a suspicious stain has been detected, has been exceeded by almost 70 times, the emergency services of the Murmansk Region told Sputnik on Thursday.
A turquoise discoloration of unknown origin was reported in the lake on Wednesday. A probable source of contamination is an abandoned mine belonging to a local mining and processing plant that went bankrupt.
"We have collected water samples from the Vuonnemyok river basin, where a 67-time excess of the critical aluminum level has been registered," the services said.
The situation is considered to be caused by an ingress of geological materials and their chemical components.
"A washout of geological materials and their chemical components in flood is determined as the suspected cause of the silt increase in the water," the services said.
There have been 13 water samples taken so far, two of them from the Vuonnemyok river, five from nearby water bodies, and six from local water supply systems.
The press office of the regional administration said they were working to identify the cause of the contamination. Governor Andrei Chibis is monitoring the situation.
"The source of the Umbozero pollution has not been found. Experts from the Rosprirodnadzor [environmental watchdog] will provide figures and other metrics after the investigation is concluded," they said.
This is the second time in less than three weeks that hazardous pollutants have escaped into a freshwater ecosystem above the Arctic circle in northern Russia. A massive oil spill in the Siberian city of Norilsk turned a river crimson in late May, prompting the authorities to declare a state of emergency.
