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Poland’s failure to rein in industrial emissions is putting the Oder River on course for another major environmental disaster, campaigners and MEPs warn.
The massive die-off that killed thousands of fish in the river — which runs along the German-Polish border — over the summer is thought to have been caused by a type of golden algae whose bloom can emit toxins lethal to fish and shellfish.
While the exact cause of the die-off has still not been identified, German researchers have pointed to discharges of highly saline water from industrial installations on the Polish side as the likely culprit.
Six months on, the Polish government has failed to rein in those discharges or fully investigate the incident, they say. That means the river is far from fully recovered and conditions are rife for another disaster.
“It’s more likely to happen [again] than not,” said Tobias Goldhammer, a researcher at the Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB) in Berlin who studies the state of the river.
In late November, IGB researchers conducting the first major survey since the die-off caught only half as many fish as in previous years, and didn’t catch some species typically found in the Oder at all, such as the blue bream and the asp. Monitoring on the Polish side points in a similar direction.
They also observed that the salinity of the river “is relatively high again, in some cases even as high as in the summer,” said Goldhammer.
Tackling industrial discharges will be key, according Piotr Nieznański, a river ecosystems expert with WWF’s Polish office.
“No work on the river is going to restore its ecosystem alone without targeting the sources of pollution and the legal basis on which pollution is being discharged into the Oder,” he said.
Sebastian Szklarek, a hydroecologist with the Polish Academy of Sciences, agreed, arguing that the government needs to limit permits that allow industrial installations to discharge saline water. “Companies should be able to store saline water and release it in stages or invest in desalination systems,” he said.
But Poland isn’t taking the necessary steps and has not been cooperating with German authorities and researchers, observers say, hindering efforts to restore the river.
“Poland is blocking, that’s where the discharges come from,” said Hannah Neumann, a German Green MEP who traveled to the Oder in August.
Green groups and researchers also believe Poland’s plans to turn the Oder into a highly regulated waterway suitable for barge traffic — an idea opposed by Germany — are detrimental to its recovery.
Despite an order from a Warsaw court to temporarily halt construction on the Oder, the works are “proceeding unhindered,” said Neumann. “Polish law is being openly violated — so far without consequences.”
The Polish public is being kept in the dark about the government’s plans, said Szklarek. “There’s the preliminary report [on the fish die-off prepared by the Polish state]. When are we going to see the final report?”
“We’re being told that a review of the water permits [to discharge wastewater and other waste] is underway but it’s taking forever and it’s not clear what will be done about them once the review has been completed,” he added.
Poland’s infrastructure ministry — which is in charge of inland waters — as well as the environment and climate ministry did not respond to requests for comment.
The infrastructure ministry in early December published a legislative proposal aimed at “better protection of the aquatic environment [of the Oder] in the event of an ecological disaster.” It also suggested setting up a special force tasked with “tracking and tackling” crimes related to water environments and creating a water quality monitoring system for the Oder.
The environment ministry of the state of Brandenburg said it is currently “reviewing the reporting chains and the discharges” and is pushing the Polish authorities to review and, if necessary, adjust salt discharges on their side of the border.
