WATER ABLAZE - Patagonia Sin Represas

used for this purpose. The German Railways “line-spraying trains”
cause an enormous amount of direct and on-going contamination of
our drinking water supplies. The overall length of the rail network in
Germany amounts to more than 74,000 kilometres and approximately
5 kilogrammes per kilometre are sprayed each time. The loose
gravel allows the toxins to seep into the soil and therefore enter the
hydrological cycle.
One of German Railways’
special trains spraying the track
bed with herbicides
(photo: Jan Steffen Gabriel)
MTBE This abbreviation stands for methyl tertiary-butyl ether, a fuel
additive used nowadays to increase the anti-knock quality of fuel,
replacing the tetraethyl lead, which in the past transformed unleaded
petrol into leaded. On account of its water solubility, this substance
contaminates the ground water to a very considerable degree and it
is practically impossible to eliminate it using conventional methods.
Although MTBE was banned in California in 2003 for this very reason,
decision-makers here in Europe have not yet started to take the matter
seriously. It is alarming to think that over 20 million tons of MTBE are
manufactured every year, making it one of the world’s most widely
produced chemical compounds. The past has shown us that disastrous
consequences often follow in the wake of the meteoric rise to fame
of any given chemical substance before sufficient research has been
conducted into its environmental impact. Here in Germany, the time
has come to carry out extensive research into the effects of MTBE and
to draw the necessary conclusions from the results.
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