I was visiting with a fellow this evening who runs an environmental remediation company. As I ran oil refineries, we have a significant level of collective experience in environmental remediation. We are totally stumped and can come up with no idea as to how to address this disaster short of natural attenuation. This makes the Exxon Valdez look like child’s play.
It is a tough one, not much can be done other than try neutralize the acid in the river at certain points. Groups are monitoring and prepped for this, but whether it is effective or not will be up for debate.
As it is currently, points where the acid spill have "passed" over a week ago are still experiencing fish mortalities.
the water is still not fit for use/drinking etc.
it seems that the flow through the lukanga swamps has helped dilute the spill a bit more, which is good news, but this is not scientifically confirmed yet.
It seems that more mines are being identified as not meeting Environmental Standards. We shall see whether this only opens the door to corruption and brown envelope solutions or whether it is going to be dealt with properly.
Eventually, and this could take a really long time, eventually the eco system will regain its balance. but this could take decades.
The only good thing about the Kafue River is the flow rates through the rainy season like now, there is ample water flowing into the river to "flush" the shit further downstream fairly quickly.
It does not fix the heavy metals and other effluent which may not flush out as fast.
But it will, eventually! Provided they fix the issues at the mines that have been seeping into the river systems for years.
If this had happened 6 months ago when the river was at its lowest and with minimal flow rate, the effect may have been compounded severely.
The effects on fauna and flora will have to be monitored and hopefully human intervention can speed up the "repair" phase.
