Weeks After Dam Collapse, 250,000 Brazilians Still Have No Access To Drinking Water

Nine people are dead, 19 are missing, and 250,000 still don’t have drinking water two weeks after two dams at a mine in Brazil collapsed, sending 15.8 billion gallons of waste-laden water and sludge though downstream towns in the state of Minas Gerais, about 250 miles north of Rio de Janero.

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The Rio Doce valley in Minas Gerais has a long history of mining. But the state is also the country’s foremost producer of coffee and milk. South of the disaster, mineral spas are a leading tourist attraction. In recent years, the area has been plagued by both flooding and drought, which are both exacerbated by the mine-related damming.

The company was in the process of raising the dam wall, which authorities said was cheaper than replacing it. The state is investigating whether the reservoir was too full when the beach occurred.

Authorities are also questioning the mine’s preparedness for disaster. No alarm went off, Guilherme de Sa Meneghin, public prosecutor for the State of Minas Gerais, told Reuters. “Every report we’ve heard until now shows that there were no sirens — no advanced warning — before the dam burst and to me this is a complicated matter. It is a basic (procedure) to have sirens because things can happen at any moment, even natural disasters,” he said.

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http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2015/11/16/3722463/brazil-mine-disaste/