Nfter the mass death of fish in the Oder, further details on the reaction of the Polish authorities to the catastrophe have become known. According to a report by Gazeta Wyborcza, opposition MP Piotr Borys found out that between July 29 and August 10, large quantities of salt water were discharged from a retention basin into the Oder near Glogów (Glogau). from the processing of copper ore. According to the deputy, the company KGHM Glogów had a permit from the competent authority “Wody Polskie” (“Polish waters”). A conspicuously high salinity in the Oder plays a significant role in speculation about the causes of fish deaths.
Saltwater discharge in Glogów cannot be the cause of the disaster. The fish kills were first detected three days before they began near the town of Olawa, about 170 kilometers upstream. However, the situation may have been further aggravated by what happened in Glogów. However, according to Piotr Borys, neither “Wody Polskie” nor the regional environmental authority contacted KGHM Glogów and asked to stop the discharge. The company did this on its own initiative on August 10 – five days after the fish die-off also began in Glogów.
Systematic water monitoring in Poland is missing
Another report in the “Gazeta Wyborcza” shows that Warsaw was informed about the fish kill in early August by a letter from the local environmental authority in Wroclaw. The published document speaks of analyzes that have been carried out since the end of July – the results of which also include an increased oxygen content in the water, which presumably has no natural cause. It also states that it is highly probable that the solvent mesitylene was discharged into the Oder. With the publication of the letter, the Wroclaw authorities are defending themselves against an accusation by Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro. He had claimed on Wednesday that the central environmental authority in Warsaw had not heard about the fish kill through official channels, but only from media reports.
Already in the first days of the disaster, Polish environmentalists had criticized the lack of systematic monitoring of the water quality of rivers and lakes in Poland. The newspaper Rzeczpospolita writes that a systematic review by “Wody Polskie” started because of the conditions on the Oder revealed uncontrolled chaos in the discharge of sewage into the Polish rivers.
Researchers discover algae
In the Oder catchment area alone, only 3,500 of the more than 5,800 wastewater discharge facilities have been approved. According to the first results of the investigation, which has not yet been completed, sewage definitely flows illegally into the waterways at more than 280 points in the Oder region.
Meanwhile, researchers in Germany have identified an alga in the Oder that could be responsible for the mass death of fish. “The alga is known for being able to release toxins,” said fish ecologist Christian Wolter of the FAZ. It is unclear whether that happened. The poison has not yet been detected in the water. Fortunately, it rarely occurs, which is why there are no standardized analysis methods.
Some indications support the theory: The algae found normally live in brackish water. Around August 7, the electrical conductivity of the water also increased dramatically, indicating salts in the water. Without the salt, the low water and the drought, the algae would not have been able to spread so much. If the alga has actually produced poison, it attacks the fish’s gills and destroys them.
