With this small contribution I hope to raise awareness of the irresponsibility, which has allowed the accident to happen and furthermore to encourage people to stand up for the environment they live in and to appropriate it.
The long term consequences are unpredictable and already in a short time span, millions of animals have died as a result of the accident. The fact that the leaking of nickel into the river had only been publicly announced two days after the accident, thereby consciously exposing also people to contact with the contaminated water, is alarming.
As a result, a postcard can help to control the water quality. Even if most of the nickel has been flushed away to the Baltic sea and the oceans, it is a valuation for the close relation which connects the people with their river Kokemäenjoki. The postcard is meant to be distributed in Pori. It is printed on both sides, the front displaying a map of the Kokemäenjoki in the part where it passes Pori in different shades of pink, the rear side explaining the various shades of pink from the front with the amount of nickel in the water.
The post card comes with an envelope in the colour of the highest nickel pollution, which can be measured with the test stick – which is magenta. The postcard and the envelope are contained in an air sealed plastic foil, which is necessary to assure that the test strip still works when it is unpacked. The instructions on the back of the postcard are the following:
"Find out how much nickel the Kokemäenjoki contains dip the test strip in the river for 1 sec, then wait for 20 sec. before comparing the color of the test strip with the different shades of pink on the rear side of this poarcard and cross out the corresponding circle"
A nickel accident which happened on June 05th and 6th 2014 has had great influence on the Kokemäenjoki river and the whole Satakunta area. A large amount of nickel leaked into the river without any chance of ever removing it again.
The nickel contamination can be measured with a nickel rapid test strip which is fixed on the rear side of the postcard. The test person can mark the location and the date of the nickel test – later on an online database is an interesting expansion to the concept, offering an overview of the water quality over time.
