Problems
Dead fish in the river Oder
In the river Oder (Oder), flowing through the territories of Poland, Germany, and the Czech Republic, there are signs of water pollution, which led to the mass death of fish - Polish fishermen say about the ecological disaster. One of Europe's most beautiful rivers, the Odra, or Oder, originates in the spurs of the Sudetes in Bohemia, flows on to Poland and Germany, and into the Baltic Sea. The length of the river is almost 900 km, and most of it runs through Poland (742 km). For Poland, the Odra is the second longest river. The name of the river means "water, stream, river". In the past - the Odra was part of the Amber Route - one of the most famous trade routes in Europe. The Amber Route connected Europe and the Balkans with the Baltic Sea coast. The Odra River is navigable in its western branch, formed 84 km from its mouth. Below the Polish town of Kose, the Oder has canals and locks, so it is accessible to large ships. In particularly harsh winters it freezes. In the Czech town of Bohumin, the 8 km long river bend has been declared a natural monument, an example of wild river development without the influence of human activity. Recently, however, Polish fishermen have noticed a mass death of fish, indicating that the river's ecology has been disturbed.
Causes of mass fish deaths
German and Polish officials claim that toxin-poisoned algae may have caused the disaster. The cause of their bloom was an industrial waste. Solid and liquid contaminants are released from the soil into the water by leaching. Small amounts of waste piled on the ground are dissolved by the rain and enter the groundwater, then local streams and flow into the River Oder. Liquid waste flows more quickly into the reservoir. A separate place in the deterioration of the ecology of the river Odra is the pollution of groundwater. With the help of modern technology, mankind uses groundwater more and more intensively, depleting and polluting it. Private construction of housing and small enterprises, with autonomous water supply, is rapidly developing around the cities. For various reasons, the vast majority of wells are operated without observing the rules of the use of such water sources. This leads to rapid local pollution of groundwater in the region.
The reaction of the authorities of the countries where the Odra River flows
German authorities said that Poland had not reported river pollution to them for a long time: they raised the alarm only when the fish kill came to the attention of German river workers. "We see that the warning chain designed for such cases did not work," said Christopher Stolzenberg, a spokesman for the German Environment Ministry. Polish army forces are involved in the elimination of the consequences of pollution. However, according to Mateusz Morawiecki, the scale of the pollution is so strong that the restoration of the ecosystem may take years. The prime minister promised that the perpetrators will not go unpunished, but did not name any suspects.
Gallery
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Timelines
2022
August 27
In Poland's empty Cigacice harbor, firefighters are still retrieving dead fish from the water. A total of 300 tons of fish have been caught from the Oder since the beginning of August. Krzysztof Fedorowicz, a winemaker, commented on the incident: "Knowing the approach of the authorities in Poland to ecology, nature, and the environment, one would have expected such a disaster. To tell the truth, the Oder was a time bomb, because we all knew that many factories in Silesia dump their wastewater directly into it.
August 20
A week and a half after a mass fish kill was first discovered in the Oder River, more than 190 tons of dead fish have been pulled from the river, according to official estimates. Authorities on both sides of the Oder River are still trying to figure out what is behind the mass fish kill. It is suggested that there could be several reasons. Scientists suspect that the rapid spread of certain algae may have played a role in the deaths. Poland's Environment Minister Anna Moscow announced Friday an intensive investigation into how the microorganisms got into the river. Meanwhile, the Brandenburg lab found excessive levels of pesticides in the water. Samples taken between Aug. 7 and 9 at the Frankfurt-Oder monitoring station, about 100 kilometers east of Berlin, showed high concentrations of a pesticide containing the active ingredient 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid.
August 16
On Tuesday, August 16, a boom erected in front of the entrance to the Oder estuary of the Bay of Szczecin began collecting for subsequent disposal of the dead fish found in the river in recent days. NDR media company reports that volunteers will take the fish out of the water put them into special containers and incinerate them in Schwedt, Brandenburg, whose mayor Annekathrin Hoppe has already called the incident "an unprecedented ecological disaster. DW tells about what is known today.
August 11
After conducting several tests, experts determined that a toxic substance had entered Odra's waters, probably from one of the industrial plants. However, it is not yet known what kind of substance. Local authorities called on residents of the region not to approach the pond and not to let children and animals near it and demanded to find and punish those responsible. "We are dealing with a gigantic and outrageous environmental disaster. According to the first calculations of the damage to the environment and fish - because it is mostly dead fish we are talking about - we are talking about losses of several million zlotys," said the head of the state agency "Polish Water" Przemysław Datca.
August 09
On August 9, the Polish prosecutor's office opened an investigation into a possible environmental crime. On the same day, the death of the fish became known in Germany. The captain of one of the vessels gave the information to the authorities. On August 10 dead fish were spotted in the waters near the city of Frankfurt an der Oder, and on August 11 all along the river up to Schwedt, about 100 km downstream.
August 04
On August 4, the Environmental Protection Agency in Wroclaw detected a toxic substance in samples taken from the Lipki lock near the city of Olawa. According to the newspaper Märkischer Oderzeitung, Andrzej Sventach, chairman of the Polish Fishermen's Association in Wrocław, reported as early as August 6 that more than five tons of dead fish had been recovered from the Oder.
August 01
According to Przemysław Dacza, head of the Polish Water Authority, about 10 tons of dead fish were recovered from the Oder. Mass deaths of fish and animals living in rivers, such as beavers, have also been reported downstream of the Oder in Germany. In the western Polish town of Zielona Góra, fishing is prohibited.
July 26
As early as July 26, Polish fishermen near Wroclaw noticed an unusually large number of dead fish floating in the Oder. According to the Polish Ministry of Infrastructure, authorities received the first reports of fish deaths in the Oder between July 26 and 28. Since July 28, water samples taken by Polish authorities have shown unusually low oxygen content.