More than 20,000 tons of diesel leaked into the Ambarnaya River near the city of Norilsk yesterday, after a fuel tank collapsed at a power plant. Norilsk Nickel, who owns the plant, said in a statement to ‘The New York Times’ that thawing permafrost had caused one of the tank’s pillars to collapse. The oil leaked more than seven miles from the site. The river was turned the colour crimson.
According to a report by ITOPF, this decade, there have been 62 spills of 7 tonnes and over, resulting in 164,000 tonnes of oil lost; 91% of this amount was spilt in just 10 incidents. One incident is responsible for about 70% of the quantity of oil spilt this decade.
The environmental impact of oil spill is damaging in a variety of ways. Oil does not blend with the water. Oil floats on the surface of salt and fresh water. Over a very short period of time, the oil spreads out into a very thin layer across the surface of the water. This blocks sunlight from reaching oceanic environments, which can severely impact producers and, thus, the entire food chain of an ecosystem.
Text from sciencing.com
Today is World Environment Day. And a day ago we saw the life in Arctic go down the drain. The spillage led to the same question come back into account, “What about aquatic lives?”
Image Credits: The New York Times
