February 23: On This Day in World History … briefly
Before the construction of a treatment plant in 2002, almost all of the sewage from the city of Milan flowed untreated into the river, as well as industrial sewages.
2010: Unknown criminals contaminate Lambro River in Italy
The Lambro is a river of Lombardy, northern Italy, a left tributary of the Po. The Lambro rises from the Monte San Primo, elevation 1 685m, near the Ghisallo, in the province of Como, not far from Lake Como. The Lambro flows into the Po near Orio Litta. At 5.8 cubic metres per second ) the average discharge of the Lambro is relatively small, but it can be occasionally boosted to 40 m³/s or more by the Milanese water drains and dangerous floods are frequent in the rainy seasons. The Lambro River drains a very densely populated and heavily industrialised zone, including a significant portion of the Milan metropolitan area with a population of more than 3 000 000. Before the construction of a treatment plant in 2002, almost all of the sewage from the city of Milan flowed untreated into the river, as well as industrial sewage.
Despite the implementation of sewage treatment, overall water quality remained poor, until the major disaster of February 23, 2010, when unknown criminals poured into the river, near Villasanta, the contents of several silos containing oil and other hydrocarbons, all belonging to a company named ‘Lombardia Petroli’. This oily mass, estimated at over 2.5 million litres (660 000 US gal), followed the entire length of the river, despite both local authorities and civil defence’s efforts in order to stop the flow, then reached Po river. This disaster caused considerable damage to wildlife and vegetation, both in Lambro and in Po, and its effects will be evident for many years afterwards, making it one of the worst environmental crises in recent history in Italy.
Most notable historic snippets or facts extracted from the book ‘On This Day’ first published in 1992 by Octopus Publishing Group Ltd, London, as well as additional supplementary information extracted from Wikipedia.
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