Wastewater from a local tannery flows directly into the Bóbr river in the village of Leszno Górne in southwestern Poland, an investigation by broadcaster TVN has found.
It showed that sewage full of harmful substances, including cadmium and lead, was leaking into the river from the pipes of the treatment plant owned by leather-goods company Lederfabrik Josef Heinen.
The German firm bought the tannery three years ago as environmental costs in Germany doubled, TVN reports. The broadcaster showed a resident complaining of the “strong smell” from the site, saying that sometimes residents “have to close their windows” when the wind blows the smell in their direction.
Deputy climate minister Jacek Ozdoba called the case “appalling”, and warned that it “cannot go unpunished”.
“The German [owner], in my opinion, has no shame,” said Ozdoba, quoted by TVN24. “I would like to see him take his company and pour sewage on the German side if he is so brave.”
Ozdoba added that he would be asking prosecutors to review their decision last year to discontinue an investigation into the issue after an expert report concluded that, although sewage was in fact flowing into the river, it was not of danger to life or health.
Marzenia się spełniają! @OzdobaJacek powąchał dziś próbkę chemikaliów wylewanych wprost do rzeki. 👃🏻@PK_GOV_PL też działa „Po reportażu @O_Orzechowska jak podaje TVN24: Prokuratura Okręgowa w Zielonej Górze wszczęła działania nadzorcze i zwróciła się o akta umorzonego śledztwa” https://t.co/iM0o8Vcd9d
— Wojciech Bojanowski (@BojanowskiW) July 5, 2022
Subsequently, the district prosecutor’s office in Zielona Góra announced that it had initiated supervisory action and requested the files of the discontinued investigation. Its spokeswoman promises that “a thorough analysis will be carried out”.
An inspection by the Provincial Environmental Inspectorate is also currently underway at the tannery. It is due to be completed by 8 July, and on 12 July its findings are to be summarised at a meeting with journalists.
Polish Waters, a state agency, last year inspected the Leszno Górne plant and found that post-industrial pollutants were indeed entering the river. The agency told TVN24 that Heinen had been ordered to immediately stop discharging sewage into the water. Polish Waters also informed the prosecutor’s office about the incident.
A report by the Chief Inspectorate for Environmental Protection based on data from 2014-2019 showed that only 0.2% of rivers in Poland have an ecological status of “very good”, while a further 7.3% are classified as “good”.
Meanwhile, 8.8% were found to be in a “bad” state and 22.5% were classified as “poor”. The majority, 58.4% were deemed to have a “moderate” ecological status.
According to the Polish Waters, pollution of rivers is most often caused by sewage from industrial facilities – often as a result of an accident, as in the case of the Czajka treatment plant in Warsaw – as well as pollution by pharmaceuticals and littering.
Main image credit: TVN (screenshot)
Alicja Ptak is senior editor at Notes from Poland and a multimedia journalist. She previously worked for Reuters.
