When heavy rainfall occurs, almost as a rule, a new incident occurs with the spilling of bauxite water from the Biočki stan mine, said Nataša Kovačević in front of Coalition 27.
"Due to the lack of settling tanks at the mine itself, the cloudy waters flow down the Macak stream into Gračanica, Liverović Lake and further into Zeta," she said.
As he adds, the frequent repetitions and failure to solve this problem are increasingly worrying because the situation is not at all harmless for the environment and the living world. "Many households use drinking water from springs that are nearby, and as a result of such phenomena, there may be disturbance of underground water and mixing of spring water with cloudy water, which may, due to the very description of the work carried out by the mines, contain additional amounts of lubricants or other dangerous contents," she said. She adds that these waters bring great danger to the fish stocks of Gračanica and Lake Liverovići. According to experts' analyses, the way in which such cloudy water affects the fish stock is multiple negative and has the ultimate consequence of reducing the fish stock in two ways.
"When the water temperature in some middle layers reaches a certain value, the necessary conditions are created for the fish to spawn," she explains.
As he adds, the high concentration of solid particles in such cloudy water prevents the penetration of sunlight into the deeper layers of the water, so that it remains cooler at the bottom, which results in a smaller number of hatched fry from the roe. V
"A large concentration of particles in the water directly endangers the young, either through breathing difficulties or poor visibility (making it harder to find food and exposure to predators). Insufficient light passing through and the deposition of bauxite in Lake Liverovići also affect the content of the vegetation under the water, which needs it for photosynthesis and growth, which serves as food for some fish species. As a result of these disturbances, the chemistry of the water also changes," explains Kovačević.
She said that for the sake of better information the public should look at the composition of the bauxite ore from which the solid brushes that caused the clouding were formed. He explains that bauxite ore also contains iron oxides and hydroxides, silicon dioxide, phosphoric acid in smaller quantities, manganese oxides, titanium dioxides, and that all these substances can have negative effects on human health in case of excessive exposure.
Depending on the species, as she said, they can cause pain and redness of the nose, cough, pain and redness of the skin, and itchy eyes.
"Long-term exposure to iron oxide on the respiratory system can lead to the accumulation of iron in the liver tissue, which affects the functioning of the liver system," she said. According to her opinion, Montenegro must significantly strengthen the application of the Law on Liability for Environmental Damage and the regulations transposed through the EU directive of the same name.
"The purpose of the aforementioned directive, and thus of the law, is to "establish the basis for responsibility for damage caused to the environment according to the polluter pays principle, as well as to influence the prevention of environmental damage and regulate the elimination of its consequences," she said.
Kovačević said that in this sense, appeal to the Agency for Nature Protection to, in cooperation with the competent ministry and the Administration for Inspection Affairs, and according to official duty, carry out the procedure of determining the degree of damage to the environment or the immediate danger of damage and its significance, as well as to order strict measures for their permanent removal.
"Due to the problem that, it can already be freely said, often happens, we call on the company that owns the mine to take a socially responsible approach to this problem and to pay attention to the preservation and improvement of the environment, so as a matter of urgency, make a rehabilitation plan and provide all the conditions to this incident no longer occurs with the public being informed of every step taken," she said.
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