As reported by the Department of Environmental Protection, on November 8, during the municipality-level emergency situation declared in Kretinga, a decision was made to release part of the untreated wastewater from UAB “Kretingos vandenys” sewage treatment plant through the emergency outlet.
6405.6 cubic meters of untreated sewage entered the environment.
Specialists of the Environmental Protection Agency took waste water samples from the emergency outlet. The obtained research results showed that the pollutant concentrations exceeded the parameters set for the discharge of wastewater into the environment, e.g. biochemical oxygen consumption in 7 days exceeded the norm by 2.8 times, and suspended matter by 11.23 times.
However, compared to other cases of untreated sewage discharge, the situation is not dangerous. The released untreated sewage was heavily diluted by a large amount of rainwater, so the pollutant concentrations, although exceeding the standards, are not very high. Due to the rising water of the Tenge River from the rain, this wastewater was once again diluted in the natural environment and even lower concentrations of pollutants entered the environment.
UAB “Kretingos vandenys”, which has a pollution permit, will have to pay a higher fee for the released amounts of pollutants with untreated sewage after releasing pollutants through an emergency outlet and informing the department about it.
On November 9, specialists of the Environmental Protection Agency promptly took water samples from the outlet of the Kretinga city sewage treatment plant above and below the Tenže river and at the mouth of the Akmena-Dane river to determine water contamination. After conducting laboratory tests, it was established that the concentrations of the investigated parameters (biochemical oxygen consumption, nitrogen and its compounds, phosphorus and its compounds, suspended matter) did not exceed the limit values established for karp water bodies. The domestic wastewater discharged into the environment from UAB “Kretingos vandenų” sewage treatment plant was highly diluted with rainwater, so there was no significant negative impact on water bodies according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
The Department of Environmental Protection points out that although in this case significant negative effects on the environment were avoided, such pollution incidents cannot be tolerated. The probability of extreme meteorological events in any area of Lithuania is constantly increasing, so all municipalities and wastewater management companies must assess the state of the wastewater management infrastructure and take measures to increase their resistance to climate change.
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2024-08-17 16:00:57
