After a failure at the Cyraneczka sewage treatment plant, the waste was discharged into the Wawerski Canal. There are concerns that the emergency tanks may overflow, which will result in the spillage of sewage. Residents of the area are already complaining about the unbearable stench and worry that there may be an ecological disaster or flooding of housing estates. Wawerski councilor Piotr Grzegorczyk appealed for the creation of a crisis staff.
The sewage treatment plant was established in 1996 to service the houses in the Stara Miłosna estate in Wesoła. It is located at Graniczna Street, on the edge of the Mazowiecki Landscape Park. Right next to it is the Wawerski Canal, whose waters flow through the housing estates towards the Vistula River.
Councilor of Wawer, Piotr Grzegorczyk, informed on social media that at the turn of November and December the sewage treatment plant began to release waste into the sewer. “The first inspection by the Provincial Inspector for Environmental Protection confirmed the illegal discharge, which was the result of the ongoing renovation or repair of one of the two so-called tanks of active material in which biological wastewater treatment takes place. VIEP issued PLN 500 as a fine and obliged Cyraneczka to immediately stop process,” said the councillor.
Artur Brandysiewicz, spokesman for VIEP, confirmed the information about the uncontrolled discharge of pre-treated sewage in an interview with “Gazeta Stołeczna”. The daily describes that in addition to the mandate, the sewage treatment plant was also obliged to inform on an ongoing basis about the restoration of the correct sewage treatment process and the progress of renovation works. In addition, several kilometers of the watercourse were inspected and water tests were commissioned.
Emergency tanks may overflow
The situation in the sewage treatment plant meant that the specter of flooding with sewage hangs over the Wawer housing estates. Councilor Grzegorczyk describes on Facebook that Cyraneczka used long-disused emergency retention polders at the Wawerski Canal to store faeces in them. It turned out, however, that the slopes of the polders are full of holes. “It turned out that the stability of the escarpments was affected by the activity of beavers – it is also proof that the polders have been unused for a long time, because the cesspit is not the natural habitat of these very useful animals” – noted the councilor,
“Currently, faeces are pouring out through polder escarpments riddled like a sieve straight into the canal. Along the channel, towards the Vistula, through Wiśniowa Góra, Międzylesie, Anin, Sadul, Zerzeń – a foul-smelling turbid sewage flows. Teal is powerless, because in the most prophetic dreams its owners do not predicted that the devices break down, require periodic maintenance and repairs, and finally that the capacity of the sewage treatment plant has its physical limits, which were probably exceeded a long time ago” – says the councilor.
The reservoir at the back of the Cyraneczka treatment plantArtur Węgrzynowicz / tvnwarszawa.pl
Further, the councilor refers to the observations of the employees of the State Farm of Polish Waters, to which the Wawerski Canal is subject. They assessed that the technical devices of Cyraneczki for regulating the level of sewage in polders may be inoperative. At the end of December, the director of the Polish Waters, Anna Rudlicka, sent a letter to the director of the city’s Office of Security and Crisis Management, Michał Domaradzki.
“Taking into account the lack of information from VIEP and the sewage treatment plant regarding the overflow of retention polders with sewage and the overflow of sewage (which will probably happen soon), we are asking for action in the field of the real threat of flooding the Wawer district with faeces” – the councilor quotes the letter Grzegorczyk.
Residents fear flooding of housing estates with sewage
Residents are concerned about the consequences of overfilling the reservoirs. They also describe that an unbearable stench has been hovering over the area since the beginning of December. The weather does not improve the situation. At the beginning of the month it snowed heavily, then thaws and downpours came. – The snow was the nail in the coffin because it soaked the embankments. The canal began to thaw and smelled foul, and the water was gray and thick. I’m afraid that when it rains, the tanks will overflow and all this shit will spill over us – said Anna in an interview with “Gazeta Stołeczna”.
According to the findings of “Gazeta Stołeczna”, septic tankers leave Cyraneczka every day to transport wastewater to another treatment plant. This is supposed to be a way to reduce the amount of liquid in the joints. The daily also quotes reports from the residents of Wawer, who claim that sewage from the treatment plant was discharged several times before weekends. They reported this to the district authorities and municipal services, but they did not receive a response.
“When we called the sewage treatment plant, no one answered the phone, and there was no other contact with Cyraneczka. The media laconically dismissed the residents’ allegations, claiming that the discharge of pre-treated sewage took place once every 25 years,” reported “Gazeta Stołeczna”.
At the end of December, Councilor Grzegorczyk sent a letter to the authorities of Wawer, Wesoła and the mayor of Warsaw to create a crisis staff in connection with the pollution of the Wawer Canal. In his opinion, the situation poses a risk of an ecological catastrophe and huge damage to the inhabitants of the surrounding settlements.
We asked the town hall and the offices of the Wawer and Wesoła districts, as well as VIEP, Wody Polskie and representatives of the Cyraneczka sewage treatment plant, to comment on the matter. We are waiting for answers.
Failure in Czajka. Sunday Town Hall Conference
tvnwarszawa.pl / “Gazeta Stołeczna”
Main photo source: Artur Węgrzynowicz / tvnwarszawa.pl