The Audiernes stream in Aveyron suffered an accidental spill of molasses on Friday. The impact of the pollution generated is currently being analyzed, according to the prefecture and the French Office for Biodiversity (OFB). “Following a technical incident in an animal feed production company in Montbazens, an accidental spill of liquid vegetable proteins (25 tonnes) occurred in the Audiernes stream,” the prefecture announced in a press release. “Brown slicks were observed on the two rivers concerned”, the Diège and the Audiernes (the second being a tributary of the first), she indicated.
Asked by AFP, the latter was unable to specify the exact nature of the technical incident and evoked “at first sight, an accidental technical problem”. The material discharged into the river is “beet molasses” used for the manufacture of “livestock feed”, Céline Benevise, head of the OFB unit in Rodez, told AFP.
“Samples have been taken, an investigation is underway and the results will be known within the week”, she underlined, indicating that there was “no fish mortality” observed. “As a precautionary measure”, specified the prefecture, the local authorities suspended “water withdrawals from the Diège aquifer located further downstream from the disaster” and set up a connection to another network. “Pending the results of the analyses, it is recommended that local residents limit the taking or watering of livestock” in these rivers, she said, adding that a judicial inquiry has been ” opened under the authority of the Rodez public prosecutor’s office”.