World

Toxic Spill Is Crop Calamity

April 28, 1998 / 4:12 PM EDT / AP

A toxic spill endangering wildlife in southern Spain has caused $79 million in crop losses and devastated thousands of acres of farmland, the country's largest farmers' group said Tuesday.

Local fishermen said the flood of metallic waste, which burst Saturday from a mine reservoir in Aznalcollar, 250 miles southwest of Madrid, also threatens their livelihoods.

It said 13,300 acres of cropland will be left barren for the next 25 years because of the spill.

"It's not only an ecological disaster, it's a big social disaster as it affects people and their sustenance," confederation spokesman Jesus Larena said.

He said the group would seek compensation for its members from the government and was considering legal action against the mine operator, Canada-based Boliden, Ltd. He did not say how many farmers were affected.

Makeshift dikes diverted the 176 million cubic feet of waste away from the Donana Park, one of Europe's most prized nature reserves. Makeshift dikes at the park diverted the waste, which flooded the adjoining Guidiamar River, toward the Guadalquivir River that flows into the Atlantic Ocean 60 miles downstream.

Still, a huge area of toxic mud around the reserve threatens the six million migratory birds who flock each year to its salt marshes, as well as the lynx, otters, eagles and other endangered wildlife who live there. Dead fish already have been discovered near the source of the spill.

The waste contains residues of cadmium, zinc and other metals.

Nineteen environmental activists arrived Tuesday to help cleanup efforts aboard a Greenpeace boat carrying a banner with a drawing of gasping fish.

Meanwhile, fishermen waited gloomily at the docks in Sanlucar de Barrameda, a tourism and fishing village at the mouth of the Guadalquivir on the Atlantic coast.

"Nothing has ever happened like this here. It could be our ruin," said Juan Maria Lopez, 49, as he stood in a light drizzle and stared across the river toward the thick, green forest of the Donana reserve.

While he and other fishermen have seen no signs of contamination yet, he said the perils of the Atlantic Ocean were nothing compared to the approaching toxic waste.

In Sanlucar, fishing has been a family affair for generations, with everyone from 10-year-old children to 65-year-old grandfathers working on individually owned boats.

Environment Minister Isabel Tocino said she expected "enormous" ecological and agricultural damage, although there was no evidence of contamination in the waters of the Guadalquivir.