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Once one of the enterprises that kept agriculture afloat with phosphate fertilizers, today it has turned into a death wreck that is poisoning the entire surrounding area.
Laç Superphosphate ignited the chimneys in 1967 and consisted of a sulfuric acid plant, a phosphate plant to produce fertilizer for agriculture and then the copper enrichment plant was added.
This industry produced 180 thousand tons of superphosphate per year, which yesterday affected the growth of agricultural production. But the activity was accompanied by violent processes of environmental pollution.
The whole surrounding area, up to the mountain, was completely devoid of vegetation due to acid rain. Sludge from technological processes, along with other hazardous elements, passed through the acid channel and was discharged untreated into the sea.
“There were no trees here, no plants. The whole mountain was bare, “said Sali Dervishi, a resident of Laç
Although it has not been functioning for 25 years, the superphosphate in Laç has turned into a toxic waste that is poisoning the environment and has taken human lives.
The former superphosphate covers an area of 38 hectares. According to a study conducted by UNDP in 2000, about 200 tons of sodium silicate fluoride, 40 tons of asbestos, 50 tons of vanadium pentaoxide, 2000 tons of pyrite and 300,000 tons of other hazardous wastes remained in the area after the cessation of activity. radioactive. At the time, UNEP analyzes of surrounding land showed significant levels of arsenic and copper, extremely dangerous to human health, and aquatic ecosystems.
Analyzes revealed that arsenic and copper due to the rains had penetrated the groundwater contaminating them. Experts even suspected that in the area below the Laç factory, as a result of this process, drinking water was polluted.
Because the pollution was spreading around, UNDP suggested emergency intervention at the time. The cost of rehabilitating the area would cost 16.7m euros.
Completely isolated from the world, communist Albania of that period had only one goal: to increase production capacities as much as possible, while no one wanted to know about the side effects on the environment or the impact on the health of the population.
“At that time there was no such sensitivity for the environment and we almost did not know, we did not deal with the impact on the environment at all. We did only a minimal waste treatment, only a rinse “said Magdalena Cara, Former technologist / Superphosphate Laç
Due to the strong processes and exposure to reagents quite harmful to health, the workers of this plant took as an antidote half a liter of milk. But that was not enough to save him from high exposure.
“We also had fatal cases, we lost a worker of warehouses with lung viruses” said Magdalena Cara, Former technologist / Superphosphate Laç
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