According to the Water Management Office, the extent of the liquid manure disaster south of Würzburg is considerable. “The stream is biologically dead up to the barrier,” said chemist Klaus Maslowski from the Aschaffenburg Water Management Office on Wednesday. Nevertheless, the groundwater in the area near Reichenberg is probably not very affected. “I assume that not too much seeped into the groundwater.” The amount of damage is difficult to estimate, but it is definitely 100,000 euros.
A man is said to have manipulated a biogas plant in Reichenberg on Tuesday night in such a way that around a million liters of liquid manure escaped and flowed through a drainage ditch into a stream. The 33-year-old from the Würzburg district was temporarily arrested. According to the police on Wednesday, it is still unclear why he should have intentionally opened two extraction hatches on the system at night. Investigated on suspicion of an environmental crime.
Manure is used by farmers to provide crops with the nutrients they need to grow in the fields. It is an alternative to industrially produced fertilizer. Manure is a mixture of feces and urine from pigs, for example. Manure releases the gases carbon dioxide, ammonia and hydrogen sulphide. The latter in particular has an unpleasant odor for most people. On Tuesday, the emergency services managed to build a barrier in the creek and collect the liquid manure. Otherwise, the broth might have gotten into the Main, just a few kilometers away, said Maslowski. He estimates that the work to clean up the environmental damage will be completed in a few days.