The Oder crosses Germany and Poland. “We’ve never had an operation of this magnitude on a river,” said a fire service spokesman. “Huge amounts of chemical waste have probably been dumped into the river,” the Polish prime minister said last week.
Water samples are being tested in Poland and Germany and have also been sent from Warsaw to laboratories in the Czech Republic, the Netherlands and Great Britain. It is now known that no increased concentrations of mercury have been found in the river.
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The first reports of massive fish kills in the Oder date from the end of July. Germany was displeased that it had not been informed immediately and in Poland the government is under fire for not acting quickly.
The German environment ministry spoke of a “terrible environmental disaster.” On Monday, it was announced that Germany and Poland are jointly setting up a task force to tackle fish mortality. The European Commission has offered support to both countries in the investigations into the cause.