By Michael Sauerbier
German and Polish authorities are still puzzling over the reason for the mass deaths of fish in the Oder. Now a Polish politician announces: A Silesian mining company is the possible cause of the ecological catastrophe!
More than 100 tons of dead fish have already been fished out of the Oder – a poisonous wave had rushed through the river from Silesia to the Baltic Sea. More than two weeks after the beginning of the disaster, one thing is certain: neither chemicals nor heavy metals were found in the water. But a high concentration of salt – and toxic algae that only thrive in brackish water.
But how did the salt get into the freshwater river?
Huge amounts of salt water discharged
The mining group KGHM has piped huge amounts of salt water into the Oder near Glogau (Silesia), MP Piotr Borys from the liberal opposition alliance KO reported on Thursday in the Polish daily newspaper “Gazeta Wyborcza”.
KGHM mines copper, silver, but also rock salt. Waste water is produced during processing.
After an inspection visit, politician Borys explained: Between July 29 and August 10, large quantities of salt water flowed from the KGHM mines via the Zelazny Most reservoir into the Oder.
Dead fish float in the shallow water of the Oder Photo: dpa
The company had permission to do this. But it was not informed by the water and environmental authorities about the catastrophic consequences for the Oder at low water and summer heat. And also not asked to stop the discharges!
The first fish died near Glogau on August 5th. As a precaution, KGHM only turned off the salt water five days later.
Brandenburg’s Environment Minister Axel Vogel (66, Greens) knew nothing about it until Thursday morning, said to BZ: “We will follow up on the information immediately.”
Polish and German authorities under criticism
Poland’s authorities only informed Germany six days after the fish died. By then the poisonous wave had long since reached Brandenburg.
The Warsaw Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki (54) had to apologize. He offered a 1 million Sloty (215,000 euros) reward for information on the polluter, fired the heads of his supervisory authorities.
Brandenburg’s State Environment Agency is also under criticism: Since the beginning of August, its measuring points had registered a greatly increased conductivity of the Oder water. A clear indication of the salinity of the river. But the public was not informed until August 10th, two days later a bathing ban followed.
Is there a second culprit?
However, the saltwater discharges from KGHM cannot be the only cause of the disaster.
The fish kill had already begun on July 23 in Ohlau, 170 kilometers upstream. There, the Polish public prosecutor’s office investigated with numerous experts, carried out twelve searches, secured documents and questioned 228 witnesses.
Under suspicion: the Ohlau paper factory “Jack Pol”. The company uses Chor to bleach recycled paper. Chlorine can dissolve many other toxins from the river bottom. But the results of water samples near the plant have still not been announced, according to “Gazeta Wyborcza”. They had been taken in early August.