Three new desalination plants are planned on the banks of the Oder River in western Poland as part of a government effort to avoid a repeat of a 2022 ecological disaster that devastated fish stocks in the river.
The plants, costing around €1 billion in total, will be built under the plan prepared by the Polish Climate Ministry and State Assets Ministry.
Due to be rolled out over the next five years, the strategy also includes the renovation of an existing plant, according to the Polish newspaper Rzeczpospolita.
The desalination plants are deemed necessary owing to links between high salinity and golden algae, which is toxic to fish. The salination levels in the Oder are high because of mineral salts released into the river and its tributaries by mining companies.
In 2022 an outbreak of the algae, which thrive in salty water and starve the water of oxygen, led to the death of up to 250 tons of river life in the Oder.
Due to be rolled out over the next five years, the strategy also includes the renovation of an existing plant, according to the Polish newspaper Rzeczpospolita.
The desalination plants are deemed necessary owing to links between high salinity and golden algae, which is toxic to fish. The salination levels in the Oder are high because of mineral salts released into the river and its tributaries by mining companies.
In 2022 an outbreak of the algae, which thrive in salty water and starve the water of oxygen, led to the death of up to 250 tons of river life in the Oder.
The link between mining and the algae's presence could also lead to mining firms helping foot the bill for the plants.
"We talked about the involvement of state-owned companies, including mines, in the construction and provision of resources for their desalination system,” said Deputy Prime Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, adding that the government was “checking the possibilities of co-financing these expenses from the Fund for Just Transition and other European funds."
The companies that have permits to send effluent into the Oder include many major Polish industrial names, including Polish Copper (KGHM), one of the largest mining and smelting companies in the world, and two mining groups, JSW and PGG. The State Assets Ministry has a controlling stake in all of them. However, much of the salt is seeping through from flooded disused mines managed by the State Mining Assets Company, according to experts quoted by Rzeczpospolita.
Rzeczpospolita added KGHM will build its own desalination plant.
The move to clean up the Oder also comes on the heels of the alarming death of some 77 tons of fish earlier in August in one of the river’s tributaries near the town of Gliwice.
"We talked about the involvement of state-owned companies, including mines, in the construction and provision of resources for their desalination system,” said Deputy Prime Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, adding that the government was “checking the possibilities of co-financing these expenses from the Fund for Just Transition and other European funds."
The companies that have permits to send effluent into the Oder include many major Polish industrial names, including Polish Copper (KGHM), one of the largest mining and smelting companies in the world, and two mining groups, JSW and PGG. The State Assets Ministry has a controlling stake in all of them. However, much of the salt is seeping through from flooded disused mines managed by the State Mining Assets Company, according to experts quoted by Rzeczpospolita.
Rzeczpospolita added KGHM will build its own desalination plant.
The move to clean up the Oder also comes on the heels of the alarming death of some 77 tons of fish earlier in August in one of the river’s tributaries near the town of Gliwice.
Source: TVP World, Rzeczpospolita
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