Iron pollution colours River Sajo in orange, Slovakia

Sentinel-2 MSI acquired on 18 February 2022 at 09:40:41 UTC
Sentinel-2 MSI acquired on 15 March 2022 at 09:40:29 UTC
Author(s): Sentinel Vision team, VisioTerra, France - svp@visioterra.fr
Keyword(s): Water quality, river, pollution, iron mine, natural resources, Slovakia
Fig. 1 - S2 (15.03.2022) - River Sajo flows toward Slovakia from Slovak Ore Mountains, within the Inner Western Carpathians.
Fig. 2 - S2 (15.03.2022) - View of the iron ore mine in Alsósajó, the likely source of pollution, after the river became orange.
Örs Orosz, a representative of Nyitra county council in Slovakia alerted red mud was found in the River Sajó coming from the iron ore mine in Alsósajó.
Fig. 3 - S2 (15.03.2022) - View downstream near Rožňava. Mr Orosz added that 2.4 T of polluted liquid flew into the river daily.
Fig. 4 - S2 (15.03.2022) - Allegedly, the river’s iron level exceeds 2000 times the limit.
Fig. 5 - S2 (15.03.2022) - The arsenic level exceeds 187 times the limit in Slovakia and 2600 times the river’s usual content.
Fig. 6 - S2 (15.03.2022) - Furthest seen thick traces of pollution. Furthermore, there is a large amount of sulphur in the river.