No end in sight for Sonora river spill saga

August 6 marks the fourth anniversary of the acidified copper sulfate spill at the Buenavista copper mine that contaminated northern Mexico's Sonora river, in what was deemed the worst environmental disaster in the history of the country's mining sector.

In addition to negative environmental and economic impacts, the incident in Sonora state caused significant disruption to local water sources, which is still ongoing.

Based on press reports and local residents, action under a remediation plan that miner owner Grupo México committed to financially support via a 2bn-peso (US$108mn) trust fund were either cancelled or remain incomplete.

The company had agreed to allocate the funds to the construction of 27 potable water treatment plants and a specialized hospital for the people affected. In April last year, Grupo México announced that only nine of those plants would be built given that pollution levels in the river had fallen.

In the end, seven of the facilities were built on-site, while the other two were delivered as portable water purification units. Only two of those plants - one in Huépac and another in Bacanuchi - are operating, while the portable units are in storage because some parts need to be replaced.

Construction of the hospital never materialized and in its place a local home was equipped as a clinic.

The trust fund, which was managed by the federal government, expired in February last year after authorities ruled that the payments necessary to compensate for the tragedy had already been made. Around the same time, Sonora state authorities announced that the monitoring processes carried out by water authority Conagua and the federal commission for sanitary risk protection, Cofepris, indicated that the situation had stabilized.

Ultimately, only 1.25bn pesos of the trust's funds were used to clean up the river, supply potable water to the affected population and provide compensation to residents. The remaining 750mn pesos were reportedly never disbursed by the company.

POSSIBLE NEGLIGENCE

An investigation released this week by a group of journalists including ones from news portals Proyecto Puente and Aristegui Noticias claimed that the incident could have been the result of negligence on the part of the company and the authorities. According to the report, the last routine inspection the federal environmental protection agency (Profepa) made to the mine was 10 years before the incident took place.

According to reports, requests for information filed by the journalists to the agency also unveiled that the mine did not have the necessary facilities to handle hazardous waste, such as detection systems to prevent toxic material from being disposed of outside the premises, nor for monitoring wells to oversee leaching processes, among others.

Documents also reportedly indicate that the spill was reported to authorities 25 hours after it happened.

LEGAL ACTION

The supreme court agreed to hear two appeals filed by residents affected by the disaster.

In one of them, the court will have to rule whether residents living near the mine have the right to question permits for projects the company is trying to advance. In this case, communal land members of Bacanuchi municipality are seeking to contest the installation of an 8km-long tailings dam that Grupo México wants to build in the area.

In the second case, the issue to be resolved is whether the company had the right to create a private trust fund to compensate for damage allegedly caused by its actions and involving public officials, without consulting the affected population. A ruling declaring that the fund can be considered of public interest could open the door to appeals for its re-opening.

The court's rulings in both cases are expected August 22.

In photo: The contaminated Sonora river shortly after the spill occurred.