Hundreds of fish dead after sewage leak in Poland

More than 200 kilograms of trout, bull trout, and other fish, some of them 60 centimetres long, were fished out of the Czarna Hańcza river, according to Jarosław Borejszo, director of the Wigierski National Park.

Many more may still be stuck in mud and plants in the river.

The contaminated water flowed from the river to the Wigry lake, one of Poland’s largest and most famous.

But, according to reports, the water in the lake is no longer murky and there are high hopes that the Wigry ecosystem will not be affected.

The leak occurred when air pressure built up in the pumps at the facility, but a worker did not react to high readings on gauges, said the head of Suwałki’s water and sewage management office, Leszek Andrulewicz.

Meanwhile, the local council has pledged to buy half a tonne of new fish to replenish the river. It may take up to six years to reverse the damage of the waste leak on Friday.

(vb/pk)

Source: IAR