environment
No conspicuous metal values in the Oder water
The dead fish are collected with a barrier laid by the fire brigade. photo
© Patrick Pleul/dpa
Almost a hundred tons of dead fish were recovered in Poland alone. It is still unclear what was fatal to the animals.
According to their own statements, the Polish fire brigade has so far recovered almost a hundred tons of dead fish from the Oder and the smaller river Ner. A total of 97.95 tons, said the spokeswoman for the fire brigade headquarters in Warsaw. In the search for the cause of the fish deaths in the Oder, the Brandenburg State Environment Agency evaluated the first laboratory results.
The results transmitted on Monday evening by the Berlin-Brandenburg state laboratory in a first tranche did not show particularly high values for metals such as mercury, said the spokesman for the Ministry of the Environment, Sebastian Arnold, on request. A single cause for the environmental catastrophe cannot be identified.
“The studies on nutrients that are not yet complete and not yet comprehensive and completed do not yet allow any indication of a single cause for the fish kill in the Oder,” explained Arnold. “Furthermore, high salt loads and a high oxygen content are determined.” The state laboratory examines further water samples from different days and measuring points as well as fish. The data would be continuously transmitted and evaluated.
Arnold explained that water samples on the Brandenburg side would be taken regularly at the automatic measuring station in Frankfurt (Oder). Samples are taken at regular intervals 1.5 meters below the surface of the water and are usually analyzed for values such as water temperature, pH or oxygen content. Arnold explains that the samples in the state laboratory are now being examined for numerous other values and toxins.
The website of the State Environment Agency always shows the results of the past 31 days: it shows that the values in the river changed dramatically from August 7th. The oxygen content, the pH value, the turbidity and other values suddenly went up, while the amount of nitrate nitrogen dropped significantly.