Toxic red sludge could enter Danube.

The Danube, Europe’s second-longest waterway, could be threatened by a toxic red sludge that has entered one of its tributaries.  This week, a reservoir for toxic sludge at an aluminum plant in Hungary burst, releasing 1 million cubic meters (more than 35 million cubic feet) of sludge into two neighboring towns.  So far, four people have been killed, three are missing, and 120 have been treated for chemical burns.

The sludge is a by-product of the aluminum refining process.  Officials fear that if the sludge enters the Danube (45 miles away), an environmental disaster could ensue, impacting half a dozen other European nations.  Workers in hazmat suits have been laboring all week to clear the hardest hit towns.  Hungary’s federal investigation agency is now involved in determining the cause (Associated Press, October 6, 2010).

This disaster is likely not the “beginning of the end.”  However, the Bible predicts end-time events will result in contamination of one-third of all waters in rivers and springs (Revelation 8:10-11).  Exactly “how” this end time catastrophe will occur remains to be seen.  However, as we witness increasing disasters around the earth, we can glimpse the potential devastation that modern industries could inflict on creation.  Aluminum plants exist around the globe and “holding reservoirs” for toxic sludge can be breached by intense rains, earthquakes, as well as terrorist activities.  This event in Hungary could be a sobering foretaste of events to come…