問題詳情

Illegal levels of arsenic and mercury spilled into the Doce River in Espirito Santo, Brazil, in November 2015 after a dam burst at an iron ore mine. This incident is officially Brazil’s worst ever environmental disaster. The dam burst released a thick, chemical sludge across a wide area, the dam itself located near where the river meets the Atlantic Ocean. The burst also caused multiple mudslides, which devastated a nearby town, killing at least 17 people and injuring many more. The incident has also killed thousands of fish and other marine animals in the river.Samarco, the company in charge of the mine, which is a 50-50 joint venture between Brazil’s Vale SA and Australia’s BHP Billiton Ltd, currently in talks with Brazilian federal and state prosecutors and environmental agencies to settle a $US5 billion public lawsuit, has said that the water and waste spilled by the dam burst were not toxic. In fact, Samarco ran their own tests on the now-contaminated water and said that it posed no threat to humans. However, other tests showed different results.The Institute for Water Management in Minas Gerais (IGAM) released a report saying that they found arsenic levels more than ten times above the legal limit, and mercury slightly above the legal limit, in one spot on the Doce River. The IGAM continued to find unacceptable levels of arsenic and mercury in multiple spots along the river, which stretches over 800 kilometers. Tommasi Laboratorio, a company hired by Espirito Santo’s own environmental agency, found arsenic as well, but they stressed that different levels of arsenic cause different levels of harm, and urged the public not to rush to conclusion about the arsenic in the river.The incident is even more important than it normally would be because the 2016 Summer Olympics will be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and athletes are already grumbling about the polluted waters there.
What did the IGAM find after running tests on the water of the Doce River?
(A) Only at one spot did they find unacceptable levels of arsenic.
(B) The mining company’s claim about the river was basically true.
(C) The levels of arsenic and mercury were both within legal limits.
(D) The Doce River was seriously contaminated by the spilled waste.

參考答案

答案：D
難度：簡單0.74
統計：A(2),B(3),C(8),D(37),E(0)

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