In early May, green liquid emerged from a rainwater well in front of the CATL battery factory in Debrecen, Hungary. Tests by independent laboratories showed that it contained a variety of toxic ingredients harmful to health. This sparked concerns among local people and politicians, and plunged this large-scale battery project into a whirlpool of public opinion again.
A test report issued by an independent laboratory and sent to the environmental non-governmental organization "Mike Pelch Mothers Fighting for the Environment" showed that these samples contained manganese, lithium, nickel, cobalt, and an organic solvent that does not exist in nature and is fetally toxic, N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP). The concentrations listed in the report are: manganese 160 μg/L, lithium 20 μg/L, nickel 4.7 μg/L, NMP 1 μg/L, and cobalt 0.9 μg/L. The organization pointed out that except for manganese, the concentrations of other substances did not exceed the threshold commonly considered harmful, but the manganese content was well above the health limit of 50 micrograms per liter in drinking water.
Environmental organizations particularly emphasized that NMP is a solvent used in the production process of battery cells and should not appear in the natural environment. Its presence in the samples clearly shows that the liquid discharged into the pipe network has been in contact with process waste liquid and is not "clean tap water plus food coloring" as the company had previously claimed. The report also reminds that lithium, nickel, manganese and cobalt themselves are also commonly used substances in battery production, and all have certain toxicity and health risks.
On May 5, green liquid suddenly gushes out of the rainwater well in front of Gate 2 of CATL's Debrecen factory, which alerted residents and environmental groups at the site, and related images were widely disseminated through social media. After the incident, the company explained that it conducted a pressure test on a storage tank in a battery cell factory under construction that day. In order to facilitate the detection of leaks, technicians added green dye to the test water. After the test, the dyed water was discharged into the factory pipe network. However, due to blockage, some liquid emerged from the wellhead on the ground and was seen by residents.
CATL stated at the time that the dyed water used was not harmful to the environment and that it had proactively reported the situation to the local disaster protection agency. On the day of the incident, the results of a rapid test conducted by the General Directorate of Disaster Protection of Hajdu-Bihor State stated that no toxic substances were found in the wastewater. The company has repeatedly emphasized that official testing shall prevail and insists that the dye poses "no risk" to the human body and the environment.
However, the Mike Pelch Mothers Association relied on an independent report and stated that all the substances detected were toxic, harmful to health and widely used in the battery manufacturing process. The organization believes that this means that there was a physical connection between the so-called "closed" process system inside the factory and the external rainwater drainage system during the pressure test, either through leakage or intentional discharge, causing production-related substances to enter the public pipe network.
Regarding this incident, many local congressmen spoke out publicly, demanding a thorough investigation of the truth and increased supervision of similar factories. Tompa Enik, a member of parliament from the Tisza River Basin constituency, said on social platforms that she had obtained the test results from an independent laboratory on May 28 and wrote to the head of the state government office, requesting the government to disclose official test data and conclusions.
In response to the test results released by civil society organizations, Tarkani Jorte, another member of the parliament who also belongs to the region, said that he and Tompa Enike had reported the situation to the relevant competent authorities and the ministry in charge of environmental affairs as soon as possible. If the pollution is true, the competent authorities will "use all legal means" to deal with it. He mentioned that a new regulation on the supervision and penalties of such industrial facilities is already being drafted. In the future, for companies that repeatedly commit environmental violations, the most severe sanction will be the forced closure of the factory.
The new agency Tarkani refers to is an independent national environmental regulatory agency that was announced earlier by Gaydos Laszlo, the minister responsible for environmental affairs. According to the minister's previous statement to the media, the agency will focus on large-scale polluting industrial projects, conduct regular monitoring and make the results public. Once an enterprise is found to have violated regulations or neglect, it will implement the "most severe" fines and sanctions in accordance with the law.
Tarkani later reported that he had consulted with Rural and Urban Development Minister Lelinz Viktoria, who had ordered relevant departments to launch a "particularly rigorous" emergency investigation into suspected pollution incidents. At the same time, the state government office has revoked a water-related permit document previously issued to the factory and imposed a fine of 1 million forints on the company for this incident.
Tarkani expressed dissatisfaction with the amount of the fine, saying that under the current legal framework, this is the maximum fine that can be applied to such incidents, but it obviously lacks deterrence. He said relevant regulations will be revised soon, and higher fines that will have a "real deterrent effect" can be imposed on polluting companies in the future.
At present, there are still clear differences between "official testing" and "independent testing" surrounding the ingredients of green liquids. CATL insists on the official emergency test showing no toxic substances as the basis, while civil society organizations and some parliamentarians require the disclosure of more testing details and a higher standard to examine the process safety and environmental risks of the factory.
As new regulatory agencies and stricter environmental regulations move forward, this incident is likely to become a landmark case in the changes in the regulatory framework of the Hungarian battery industry.