The breaching banks of the Bug River in eastern Poland threaten to cut off a centuries-old monastery, leaving it on the Belarusian side of the border.
Water-management authority Polish Waters has launched a tender for work aimed at preventing the breach. If the Bug bursts its banks, floodwaters are predicted to flow into local oxbow lakes, cutting off the St. Onuphrius Orthodox Christian Monastery in the village of Jabłeczna, near the border with Belarus.
As the river forms part of the natural border, if the monastery is cut off, it will no longer be in Poland.
The water authority has earmarked almost half a million złoty (€120,000) for conservation work to stop the river changing course. But while the authority has announced a tender for the work, controversy has erupted over the cause of the problem.
Environmentalists blame tree felling, conducted to make way for a so-called ‘electronic barrier’ along the border under government emergency plans. The barrier consists of a network of posts with sensors and cameras, for which hundreds of trees and bushes have been cut down near the Bug. Critics say the felling has weakened the ground and caused the riverbanks to deteriorate.
Polish Waters has rejected the accusations, pointing out that the tender was planned before construction of the fence started. The authority insists that the breach is the natural result of water erosion.
As the river forms part of the natural border, if the monastery is cut off, it will no longer be in Poland.
The water authority has earmarked almost half a million złoty (€120,000) for conservation work to stop the river changing course. But while the authority has announced a tender for the work, controversy has erupted over the cause of the problem.
Environmentalists blame tree felling, conducted to make way for a so-called ‘electronic barrier’ along the border under government emergency plans. The barrier consists of a network of posts with sensors and cameras, for which hundreds of trees and bushes have been cut down near the Bug. Critics say the felling has weakened the ground and caused the riverbanks to deteriorate.
Polish Waters has rejected the accusations, pointing out that the tender was planned before construction of the fence started. The authority insists that the breach is the natural result of water erosion.
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