--- description: The Daldykan River in Siberia turned red Tuesday after what some suspect was a chemical spill from a nearby nickel plant title: Russian River Turns Red After Suspected Chemical Spill image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [russia](/tag/russia/) ## russia Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # This Russian River Turned a Scary Shade of Red After a Suspected Chemical Spill by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Sep 8, 2016 7:41 AM CUT by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Sep 8, 2016 7:41 AM CUT The Daldykan River, located in the Siberian town of Norilsk, turned red Tuesday after what some suspect was a chemical spill from a nearby nickel production plant. According to [CNN](http://edition.cnn.com/2016/09/08/europe/russia-red-river-siberia/index.html "undefined"), Russian authorities have not identified any discharged chemical, but suspect a possible leakage in a pipeline from the Nadezhda Metallurgical Plant could be the source. > [](https://twitter.com/AlexKokcharov/status/773418832547475456) The plant’s owners, Norilsk Nickel, the world’s largest producer of the metal, deny allegations that pollutants originated from one of its plants, but have committed to reduce production from its plant while test are conducted. The river is not connected to the public water supply and does not pose an immediate threat to residents. \[[_CNN_](http://edition.cnn.com/2016/09/08/europe/russia-red-river-siberia/index.html "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4483520/russian-river-red-norilsk-nickel-chemical-spill/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4483520/russian-river-red-norilsk-nickel-chemical-spill/"},"headline":"This Russian River Turned a Scary Shade of Red After a Suspected Chemical Spill","datePublished":"2016-09-08T07:41:41.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T00:27:52.476Z","description":"Authorities suspect a plant owned by world's largest nickel producer as source of the leakage, but the company denies culpability","url":"https://time.com/4483520/russian-river-red-norilsk-nickel-chemical-spill/","keywords":["russia","Siberia"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/russia/","name":"russia"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4483520/russian-river-red-norilsk-nickel-chemical-spill/","name":"This Russian River Turned a Scary Shade of Red After a Suspected Chemical Spill"}}]}] ```