Melting Glaciers Release Stored Toxic Pollution

The Alps are commonly known as the water tower of Europe. They are the source of major rivers such as the Rhine and Rhone.

Swiss scientists say they have found highly toxic pollutants created decades ago are being redistributed through the environment as climate change causes the Alpine glaciers that have stored them to melt.

Writing in the journal Environmental Science and Technology, co-author Christian Bogdal of the Swiss Federal Laboratory for Materials Testing and Research, said that sediments from three glacier-fed lakes now contain far higher levels of many persistent pollutants, including PCBs, dioxins and DDT, than they did just 10 years ago.

Most of those compounds have been banned for at least 30 yearsor are no longer being dispersed due to emission controls.

Many of the pollutants do not easily break down, are carcinogenic and can even be absorbed through the skin.

Current levels of the substances in the lakes are now comparable to when they were still in use, according to the report. A nearby lake not fed by glaciers shows no increase in the level of such contaminants.

Bogdal says that “short but intense” bursts of fresh pollutants could occur during spring and summer as the warming climate melts more of the glaciers.

Photo: Stock