Far from being ‘green’ in the ‘eco’ sense of the word, this brightly-colored snow which appeared in the Urals is the result of a chemical leak. The company behind the leak insists that there is nothing to worry about.
The lime-colored slush appeared Wednesday in the city of Pervouralsk, not far from the Russian Chrome Chemicals 1915 company. Pervouralsk, which has a long history dating back to 1732, is currently home to over 120,000 people.
Vladislav Oreshkin, the spokesperson for the company, promised that there was no immediate danger for the residents.
“So the tank for our chromium waste was built in the Soviet times and it leaks. And ground waters get in there and get contaminated with chromium. We pump it out and send it to a cleaning station,” Oreshkin told Interfax. “There was an accident with one of the pipes that got clogged, so the well overflowed, and some of the pumped water went to the surface.”
He explained that the old 1960s slurry tank is surrounded by several drainage wells to collect the contaminated underground waters before it goes to the cleaning station. The well which overflowed is off the company’s property.
Oreshkin stressed that everything was under control and that the company would fix everything within a day’s time. Heavy machinery arrived to collect the contaminated snow and remove it.
Russian Chrome Chemicals 1915 specializes in the production of industrial materials and reagents which contain chrome.
The prosecutor’s office is looking into the chemical leak.