Monday, January 31st 2022
Toxic Spillage at Samsung Austin Leaves "Virtually no Surviving Aquatic Life"
Electronic waste isn't the only environmental concern when it comes to technological manufacturing; toxic byproducts also have to be contended with, with tech companies spending millions of dollars to comply with environmental disposal regulations. Sometimes, however, things don't go as they're supposed to. Such was the case with a toxic spillage from Samsung's Austin, Texas manufacturing facility, which spilled the equivalent of 763,000 gallons of acid waste towards a nearby stormwater pond. This same pond ultimately feeds into a tributary of the Harris Branch Creek in Northeast Austin.
The spillage is estimated to have occurred over 100+ days, and the consequences are severe. According to a report published by an Environmental Officer working for Austin City Council, the spillage left "virtually no surviving aquatic life" due to it lowering the water body's pH down to levels between 2 and 3 (which is deadly toxic even for adult aquatic life). According to Samsung, it stopped the discharges as soon as they were noticed, saying that "a majority of the wastewater was contained on-site; however, a portion was inadvertently released into an unnamed small tributary that is upstream of Harris Branch Creek." The company further stated it has hired a cleanup specialist, with aims to "restore the tributary" and prevent dissemination of the toxic waste throughout the main branch of the Harris Branch Creek.
State-appointed investigators have in the meantime confirmed that the toxic discharge has ceased, and measured recovering pH levels between January 14th and January 19th, which so far seem to have normalized at the expected pH 6.7 and 8.5 interval. The damage to aquatic life is done, however, and recovery efforts will still have to be monitored.
Source:
Tom's Hardware
The spillage is estimated to have occurred over 100+ days, and the consequences are severe. According to a report published by an Environmental Officer working for Austin City Council, the spillage left "virtually no surviving aquatic life" due to it lowering the water body's pH down to levels between 2 and 3 (which is deadly toxic even for adult aquatic life). According to Samsung, it stopped the discharges as soon as they were noticed, saying that "a majority of the wastewater was contained on-site; however, a portion was inadvertently released into an unnamed small tributary that is upstream of Harris Branch Creek." The company further stated it has hired a cleanup specialist, with aims to "restore the tributary" and prevent dissemination of the toxic waste throughout the main branch of the Harris Branch Creek.
78 Comments on Toxic Spillage at Samsung Austin Leaves "Virtually no Surviving Aquatic Life"
The US has very weak environmental laws.
One of the air force bases in Sweden leaked jet fuel for what must've been years, but it was discovered in 2017.
Initially they thought it was 368 cubic metres, but by now they've pumped up three times that out of the ground.
All that was claimed to have leaked through five tiny, underground holes. The sanitation is still ongoing and as it's the air force, they got slapped with a US$5.3k fine, not because of the leakage, but because they didn't report that they started the sanitation project.
So yeah, these kind of things happen all over the place.
Texas loves to be free and give companies tax breaks with no penalties involved in messes like this, cause they know the pushovers at the top will just get all 50 states to chip in to cover the bill.
Ah, ignorance is bliss
I mean, how do you not notice that you're short 1,000 cubic metres of jet fuel?
So I guess this is in the same boat, they didn't notice, because they weren't paying attention.
As much as I disliked France when I visited, they don't get enough credit, I am not sure I would say this kind of thing happens all over. Sweden is by all measures much more of a right wing country, as is Texas. I have yet to see an example from a far left country of this magnitude of negligence.
Not trying to bring politics in this, just stating how I see it before me.
By the way hydrochloric acid has a pH of 2 so they literally made rivers of acid the wording of the news article was pretty soft I think.
At least i think in English discharge mean they did it (i just looked in the dictionary and it says its an action, someone choose to do it). What im saying is they should have tested it before doing it. It could easily been avoided and detected. They would have noticed the release of waste was toxic not just treated water.
That case in Sweden was a leak, it can happen, it's an accident, it can happen in our home pipes. There was no intentional discharge.