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30th May 2011
ČT 1 TV
The Town of Litovel Has a Chance to Solve the Problem with Contaminated Groundwater
TV news presenter
The town of Litovel has been given a chance to solve the problem with contaminated groundwater. They can gain millions from the European Union to remediate it. Water in localities Nasobůrky and Haňovice has been contaminated by volatile substances leaking from the former landfill. Therefore, people are not allowed to use water from their wells.
The former landfill behind Nasobůrky - a quiet part of Litovel. Tons of clay here hide the focus of the danger.
Volatile substances have polluted groundwater. They are similar to those which were usually used as solvents in mechanical engineering operations. Last year, however, local residents could regularly use water from their wells.
Zdeněk Potužák /independent/, the Mayor of Litovel:
We can only speculate about who had caused the pollution and what it looks like under the ground now. The specialized company Dekonta has already begun with investigation wells drilling at the landfill, but the work has not been completed. The analyses definitely proved that the substance is harmful to human health.
Vladimíra Kubišová, head of Water Management Department, Regional Office Olomouc
The substance is dangerous to human health, it’s toxic and carcinogenic.
TV reporter
Experts from Dekonta estimate that within 10-15 years contaminated water could reach a water source protection zone. It means, it could endanger drinking water which is supplied not only to Litovel, but also partly to Olomouc. The solution of the problems with the former landfill has cost 2 million crowns from the town budget. The disposal of the danger,however,will require another hundreds of millions of crowns.
Zdeněk Potužák /independent/, the Mayor of Litovel:
The simplest variant, which counts on removing the upper layer aside and excavating the contaminated deposit underneath, is estimated to 100-150 million crowns.
TV reporter
The Litovel authorities have hurriedly been preparing the documents for funding application. They want to request the EU for hundreds of millions of crowns for the danger disposal. Radka Štědrá, Czech TV, the Litovel region.
24th May 2011
Prostějovský deník daily
Olšany: Contaminated Soil Does Not Harm Crops
The survey of the territory which is contaminated by poisons from the former Sigma Lutín continues. Experts are searching for most effective remediation methods.
Olšany u Prostějova – Lettuce, kohlrabi, tomatoes, cherries and a little further on oilseed and grain. All of that is being grown in contaminated soil all over a wide area of Olšany u Prostějova. “Do chemicals contained in groundwater harm fruit and vegetable that we eat?”, ask the residents. If water in their wells contains vinylchloride, which is a part of a discovered poison cloud, drinking such water may cause them health problems.Cancer of liver, growths in lungs, brain, lymphatic and blood systems are risky.
“Agricultural crops which are being grown nearby Olšany are not threatened. Generally speaking, chlorinated ethylene doesn’t cumulate in vegetable or animal bodies”, assures Vojtěch Musil from the company Dekonta.
Since last year, the mentioned firm has been conducting an extensive exploration in the area among Bystročice, Olšany and Dubany. “At present, the second stage of the project is being carried out within which we have been veryfying the effectiveness of the chosen remediation technologies. We also try to determine the boundaries of the contamination cloud, namely to the east of a joining line Hablova and Duban on Haná. In this area we will continue with drilling investigation wells and collecting groundwater samples“, explained Vojtěch Musil. Experts have not reported yet what most effective method should be applied to the removal of industrial degreasers residues which more than twenty years ago had been escaping in huge amounts from tanks of the former Sigma Lutín. “The evaluation is still ahead. Now we only can say that the methods based on the application of physico-chemical agents and on the basis of organic substrates show satisfactory efficiency”, said Musil. Experts are supposed to finish the most effective technologies verification in March 2012. What will happen with contaminated groundwater then?
” We are going to dispose of a large amount of chlorinated ethylene, groundwater pollution, however, will remain even after the project completion.Now we don’t know what further development will be like and if some remediation intervention is required”, responded Vojtěch Musil from the company Dekonta.
16th May 2011
PRIMA TV
Poisons Are Leaking from the Landfill
TV news presenter
Residents of Nasobůrky and Haňovice, the Litovel region, are being endangered by contaminated water. It was polluted by poisons which for ages have been escaping from the former landfill. The pollution has so far affected only wash water. But if the landfill is not excavated as fast as possible, the contamination may spread to other water sources as well.
TV reporter:
Besides the municipal water supply system, the residents of Nasobůrky have also their own wells. However, they cannot use them.
Resident of Litovel –Nasobůrky
Contaminated water can be used as a backup source in case that there is necessary to extinguish something, otherwise, it cannot be used.
TV reporter
And all of that is because of this former landfill. Beneath it, there are carcinogenic volatile substances which are used, for example, as solvents. In spite of the experts’ opinion that drinking water is not endangered, it may change soon.If the landfill is not removed as quickly as possible, volatile substances will continue leaking and may reach Olomouc, which is 30 km far.
Pavel Kurfürst, head of the Department of Environment, Municipal Office of Litovel:
We are threatened by a contamination or by an impact of a contamination cloud on the second degree of a protection zone.
TV reporter
But where is the transgressor who is responsible for the soil pollution?
Petr Šrůtek, the Deputy Mayor of Litovel
Local firms in the past had probably cumulated the waste there, but they do not exist anymore.
TV reporter
Contaminated soil as well as 200 thousand tons of soil over it now have to be excavated or fixed as fast as possible.
Pavel Horák, the Deputy Governor of the Olomouc Region (KDU-ČSL):
In the course of the following weeks, we have to make a professional decision about the solution. Subsequently, further matters, such as groundwater treatment or others, will be solved.
Petr Šrůtek, místostarosta Litovle:
Střízlivý odhad je 150 až 200 milionů korun.
Petr Šrůtek, the Deputy Mayor of Litovel:
A reasonable estimation is 150-200 million crowns.
TV reporter:
Now we don’t know who is going to pay for all of these activities. The town of Litovel does not have such a high amount in its budget and relies on the State help or the European funding.
16th May 2011
Mladá fronta Dnes daily
Carcinogens Are Being Spread Under the Ground. They May Flow As Far As Olomouc
LITOVEL. In the area between a local part Nasobůrky and Haňovice, volatile substances, which are used as solvents in mechanical engineering operations, are deposited beneath the former landfill. And that’s the problem. They have polluted groundwater in wells of some local inhabitants who, for some period of time, cannot use it for bathing or drinking. Thanks to a municipal water supply system, people do not have problems with drinking water, but a worse scenario could start to be written under the ground. If the old ecological burden is not eliminated and the area of the former brickfield is not cleaned up, in the course of the following years, contaminated groundwater may spread further on. And in the following ten or fifteen years, it can reach the second water source protection zone which supplies drinking water not only to the Litovel residents, but partly also to the residents of Olomouc.
Till now, for most of the people from Litovel – Nasobůrky, the contaminated wells have not been a principle problem, drinking water is supplied from a municipal water supply system. “We use water from wells only exceptionally. If there is a severe draught, we use it to water flowers. For vegetables we use rain water, but carcinogenic water does not harm flowers”, explained Věra Ošťádalová, one of the Nasobůrky residents.
The problem has so far touched only a part of the village, confirmed Petr Šrůtek, the Deputy Mayor. “People know that water from the wells is not allowed to drink and it’s not recommended to be used for bathing or showering. “But if it’s let aside for two or more days after being drawn from the well, it can be used for watering”. It is a volatile substance which at higher concentrations is carcinogenic and which evaporates from water after being drawn to the surface”, explained Šrůtek. Unfortunately, the harmful substances remain under the ground.
Where to get tens or even hundreds of millions of crowns for the removal of the source of carcinogens which pollute underground water? Litovel is urgently searching for the solution. If the old ecological burden is not eliminated, Olomouc may have a probem with drinking water as well. Litovel, with its ten thousand inhabitants, does not have tens or even hundreds of millions of crowns which will be required to carry out some of the considered variants of carcinogens disposal from groundwater. They have already invested two million crowns of their own to the investigation and a professional paper elaboration. Now they want to apply for European money. But the application has to be submitted as soon as possible. It is necessary to apply for a grant, which could be used for the given purpose, not later than the end of June.
Therefore, today the Litovel representatives will participate in the meeting at the Olomouc Regional Authority. “Regarding the old ecological burden, but in the meantime the problems could relate to drinking water as well, it is natural that we’ll be willing to meet the demands of Litovel as much as possible”, said Pavel Horák, the Deputy Governor of Olomouc.
A specialized company Dekonta continues with investigation wells. They investigate how much space has been contaminated with a deposited material. “It’s necessary to find the deposit which is probably under a foil. And upon it, there is a municipal waste landfilled. Its layer will probably have to be removed and then possibly contaminated soil and a source of pollution will have to be disposed of”, outlined Šrůtek and added that at present several procedure variants are being considered. It is estimated that financial demands for their realization are around 50-250 million crowns. Speculations are about who caused the pollution. One of the possibilities is that, at the beginning of the 1980s, the waste material after the fire in the enterprise Tesla in Litovel was hauled to the former landfill.
In the area, there used to be also a Technical Inspection Station.”But these are just speculations. Crucial is to find the most suitable solution. The substances continue spreading and it’s estimated that up to ten years they might pollute the second water source protection zone which supplies water not only to Litovel but partly also to Olomouc”, emphasized Šrůtek. The company deputies will have a meeting with the inhabitants of Nasobůrky. Most of the polluted wells are located in the part Nasobůrky towards Haňovice. The former landfill is situated just between these villages. Therefore, the Haňovice residents recently have had water in their wells tested. “The wells tests showed that water was contaminated only in one of the wells, but the source of contamination was different. It was not connected with the landfill. The groundwater streams supposedly flow towards Nasobůrky and Litovel”, said Arnošt Vogel, the Mayor of Haňovice. It was the local collective farm which last year discovered the problem by chance. The farm’s well is at Nasobůrky, near the motorway, and they used water from this well to water animals. “Therefore, they analyse water more frequently and in more details and the analyses helped reveal the problem”, added Šrůtek. That is why the farm had a new drilled well dug at another place.
19th April 2011
Idnes daily
A Lorry Driver Failed Because of the Navigation Error. On a Narrow Road the Lorry Destroyed Fences
Even today, in Olešná, the Písek region, the specialized company Dekonta has been removing diesel fuel which leaked from a crashed lorry on Monday morning. A driver of the lorry performed here really breakneck maneuvers. He followed the direction given by the wrong GPS navigation and the lorry found itself on a narrow road where it destroyed fences and turned up stones. Finally, one of the boulders crashed through almost a full tank.
“The lorry was driven by a young man. He said he had been driving to Kaufland in Písek to deliver goods. Not far from here, he parked the lorry in a parking lot at the petrol station since he had a mandatory break. When leaving the parking lot, the navigation did not lead him here to Olešná. Even though he could see that he was driving on the road which was getting narrow, he continued driving“, described the lorry‘s riding Jan Šupitar, the village Mayor.
The colossus on the narrow road then hit everything it had encountered on the way. „ It has demolished a few fences and turned up stones. He‘s even damaged the bridge over the stream. Finally, one of the sharp boulders crashed through the tank and almost 800 liters of diesel fuel leaked”, remarked Šupitar.
The diesel fuel leaked into soil near the stream, therefore the firefighters intervened at the site and during Tuesday a professional firm continues to clean up. They are excavating the soil soaked with hundreds of liters of diesel fuel.
The police fined a twenty-two-year-old driver for 2,000 crowns. He will probably be also fined by the Environmental Inspection as he caused an ecological accident.
According to the Mayor, now it is not possible to quantify the damage precisely. The destroyed fences represent items for thousands of crowns, but the most expensive will be a disposal of diesel fuel leaked from the lorry.
19th April 2011
ČT 24 TV
A Lorry Caused Extensive Damage
TV news presenter
Yesterday, a lorry lost the way and found itself in Olešná, the Písek region. It caused an extensive damage there, including ecological accident. While driving along a narrow road, the lorry destroyed fences and a bridge and, at the same time, damaged its own tank from which, right in the middle of the village, diesel fuel leaked. A decontamination unit was removing the damage until late at night. Further details will now be given by Kristina Vrkočová. Good afternoon, Kristina, how much damage has the lorry caused?
Kristina Vrkočová, Czech TV reporter, Olešná:
Good morning. According to the Environmental Inspection, while the lorry was passing through the village, the lorry’s tank was almost full, which is approximately 800 liters of diesel fuel. The firefighters have managed to draw a certain amount of it from the damaged tank. Nevertheless, they suppose that about 500 liters have escaped to the communications the lorry was driving along and most of all to the place where the lorry stopped and where its “pilgrimage” finished. The company Dekonta had to excavate soil and haul it from the site. A relatively large-scale water pollution threatened since it happened at the immediate distance from the brook. According to the inspectors, it was easy to prevent from it as spill containment booms were installed immediately. It is evident that the environmental pollution here in the village was rather extensive as the damage is being repaired even today. The driver will probably be fined by both the traffic police and Environmental Inspection. The investigation has not been completed, thus, the amount of the damage is not known yet.
6th April 2011
ČT 24 TV
Úžice: Heating Oil Is Leaking into Soil
TV news presenter
The spread of light heating oil from the area of the company Erochemie in Úžice into a local brook has been stopped for the time being. But it has been still leaking into soil. Three weeks ago, 10 cubic liters escaped from the boiler room of the company. The problem was highlighted by the Czech Television.
TV reporter
After three weeks, experts say clearly: this is an extensive accident with a high degree of danger. Fortunately, further pollution of the brook has been stopped. The workers of Dekonta have to pump out oil spills caught by spill containment booms daily.
Roman Tuček, worker of Dekonta
We have managed to interrupt a contaminant supply into soil by digging a remediation drain over there and to pump the oil product out into the remediation equipment.
TV reporter
But in case that the rehabilitation work is stopped, since the company Dekonta has not been paid yet, the environment will be endangered again. Along the brook, the oil spills have reached the river Černávka, then the floodplain forest and the Elbe.
Blanka Nedbalová, Water Administration Office, Kralupy upon Vltava
It may also happen that animals as well as water-linked ecosystems will be endangered.
TV reporter
Light heating oil leaked into soil and continued leaking through a broken floor of the boiler room. The Executive of Eurochemie does not feel blame for the accident,. According to her, the accident happened while cleaning the space and making the valves passable.
TV news presenter
The accident remediation provided by the company Dekonta has cost so far 4 million Czech crowns. And as you could hear, nobody has paid for it yet. The company Eurochemie is under a writ of execution and so there was a payment dispute between the authorities of the town Kralupy upon Vltava and the Central Bohemia Region. Today, however, the situation has fundamentally changed. So, we will connect now with our reporter Ivana Šmelová who is at the Central Bohemia Regional Office. Good evening Ivana, the Regional Office has changed the opinion today. Why? Who intervened?
TV reporter
Good evening. At first, the Regional Office objected that the money from the emergency fund will be paid only in the case that the transgressor is not known. And in this case, they think, it is the company Eurochemie, so it is Kralupy upon Vltava which is responsible for paying. The town, however, did not agree arguing that such an investment would be a massive intervention to the town budget and this would be to the detriment of investments to the town itself. Thus, the Ministry of Environment has intervened taking into account the fact that the police haven’t pointed out a concrete transgressor yet, therefore, today the Regional Office has changed its attitude.
Libor Lesák /ODS/, the Deputy Mayor, Kralupy upon Vltava:
We were delivered a recommendation to pay for the accident according to the Water Act considering that the transgressor is not known.
Markéta Vítková, spokeswoman, the Central Bohemia Region -
5th April 2011
Mladá fronta Dnes daily
The Firm Has Polluted the Neighbouring Area. It Does not Have Money to Pay Millions
For a month, light heating oil has been leaking from Úžice, in the Mělnik region, into the Elb. There is no one to dispose of the ecological accident, the regional authories have been arguing with Kralupy upon Vltava about who is going to pay millions to a professional firm. The obvious transgressor of the accident has gone bankrupt.
ÚŽICE, KRALUPY UPON VLTAVA. An expert in groundwater survey is coming to the former pig farm in Úžice, the Mělnik region, to explore the extent of soil pollution caused by light heating oil (LHO), which less than a month ago escaped evidently from the local area of the company Eurochemie. Workers of this bankrupt company apparently on 6th March caused the ecological accident whose disposal has cost a million and a half of crowns. But it is not clear who will pay off the debt and further work. An execution has been levied on the property of the Eurochemie company, which deals with paints mixing.
The accident, which was first highlighted by the Czech Television, will have to be paid for either by the town of Kralupy upon Vltava or the Central Bohemia Region. But none of them is willing to do it. “I’m really upset. The firm is hopelessly in debt. Unlike the Regional Ofiice, we don’t have an emergency fund”, said Libor Lesák, the Deputy Mayor of Kralupy to MF DNES daily. The regional authority, however, objects that burden will be laid on it in case that the transgressor of the accident is unknown. “The oil accident, which is being solved in Úžice, is not such a case”, responded Pavel Visinger from the Regional Department of Environment to Lesák’s opinion.
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The police are searching for the transgressor, while Dekonta for the debtor.
But the company Eurochemie denies that the neighbouring area and the Homolský Brook, eventually the Elbe, were polluted only by the company itself. “ We were cleaning the boiler room and after releasing the valve, the leak occurred. It was an accident”, said Jana Sussmilchová, the executive of the company, to the Czech Television. Therefore, the transgressor of the soil and brook pollution is being searched for by the police. And the same arguments are used by Lesák, the Deputy Mayor of Kralupy.
The debt payment for the benefit of the company Dekonta, which provided the emergency remediation work of the Homolský Brook surface, is supported by the Ministry of Environment.
4th April 2011
NOVA TV
The River Elbe Is Threatened by Ecological Accident (live)
TV news presenter
The river Elbe is threatened by the ecological accident. Thousands of liters of light heating oil have leaked into the brook which empties into the river. The event happened in an agricultural area near Kralupy upon Vltava. Our colleague Tomáš Hauptvogel is at the site. Tomáš, who caused the accident? And has the leak been stopped?
Tomáš Hauptvogel (live):
Good evening. The accident’s happened at the nearby farm, which you can see
behind me, when the workers were trying to disassemble an old boiler room which
they planned to sell to a scrap collecting yard. While doing that, 6 thousand liters of
light heating oil have leaked into this brook. And as you can see, the water
contamination is relatively high. A few minutes ago, I was right at the spill
containment boom to get some water and you can see what condition the water is in.
It’s a pity, you can’t smell how strongly it stinks. Fortunately, the workers of the
decontamination company have installed three spill containment booms into the
brook, thus successfully preventing from further leaking of oil towards the Elbe. The
workers of the company hope to be paid for their work and effort. According to the
Act, the entire disposal of this ecological accident should be paid for by the town of
Kralupy. It is estimated that the entire disposal will cost about 4-5 million Czech
crowns. Then, the mentioned amount of money should be recovered from the subject
which caused the accident, but it’s almost impossible to recover 4-5 million crowns
from the bankrupt firm which is under a writ of execution. Therefore, the
authorities from Kralupy asked Central Bohemia Regional Office for help. They,
however, refused to help explaining that there is no act which mandates to provide
help in such a case. It may happen that only the most urgent remediation work will be
provided and oil will continue leaking in small amounts into the nature during the
following decades.
Blanka Nedbalová, Water Administration Office, Kralupy upon Vltava:
Without spill containment booms, leaking light heating oil, which is approximately 20 years old, might pollute even a small-scale protected area, which is included in the plan related to a blind branch of the Elbe.
Markéta Vítková, Press Office of Central Bohemia Regional Office
They can ask our office, for instance, for some methodological aid and so on, but regarding the financial help, it definitely is not possible from our side.
Jan Kobera, head of the Department of Environment, Kralupy upon Vltava
I think, there is some imperfection in the Act because if ….. that’s why there is no fund dedicated to the disposal of this ecological damage.
4th April 2011
Hospodářské noviny daily
Thousands of Liters of LHO Are Flowing into the Brook. There Is Nobody Who Could Stop It.
A bankrupt company does not have money to dispose of ecological accident. Due to the imperfection in the Act, both the municipal and regional authorities refuse to intervene.
An oily red spill is spreading over the surface of the Homolsky Brook in Úžice, Central Bohemia. The entire area smells of diesel fuel, oily film is being deposited on plants and rocks near the shore, the brook is actually dead.
All month long, hundreds of liters of light heating oil ( LHO) have been flowing daily into an emergency collection pit from the area of Eurochemie, the bankrupt company dealing with paints mixing. And there is nobody who could stop it.
The company is under a writ of execution and has no money for environmental remediation. The Act does not say anything about the situation if the transgressor of the ecological accident has no money to pay for remediation. And the act does not state either who in such a case is responsible for the damage repair.
Due to a legal vacuum, individual authorities refuse to take responsibility, nobody is willing to pay for the soil remediation. And in the meantime, oil continues leaking into the brook and subsequently into the Elbe.
Oil in the ground can remain for decades.
“We ordered the remediation company Dekonta to intervene immediately. They’ve installed a spill containment boom with an absorption trap, which, however, retains only the most polluted parts of water surface. Portions of oil continue leaking into further parts of the brook which flows into the Elbe. It’s a temporary solution”, says Blanka Nedbalová from Water Administration Office in Kralupy upon Vltava and points to a glossy rainbow strip of a chemical on the surface which is leaking even through a textile spill containment boom and continues spreading down the stream.
“Light heating oil does not easily decompose. It may take decades to remove it from the land and water” estimated Robin Náse, Water Protection Section Chief of the Prague Environmental Inspectorate.
A reddish oil has been flowing to the Homolský Brook since Saturday, 5th March. On Friday, Jana Süssmilchová, the executive of the bankcrupt company Eurochemie, began to disassemble parts of the industrial area. “There were tubes, machines and large iron subjects. She wanted to sell them”, says Náse. Süssmilchová herself did not comment on the matter, her phone was disconnected and she did not respond to a SMS“. “But while disassembling, she loosed the tubes from large tanks for LHO and oil began to gush out. It flooded the engine room and leaked onto the land”, says Nedbalová. “The problem is that she did not report on the event“, says Nedbalová shaking her head resentfully.
Six thousand liters of oil have leaked into soil under the industrial area belonging to no one. A large amount has leaked into the brook. Then the local people noticed that, instead of the stream, heating oil was flowing around their gardens so they called to 112. “The firefighters arrived and installed spill containment booms. Then the remediation company installed an absorption textile into the brook which is continuously kept maintained“, says Nedbalová. The company, however, refused to do the most important thing and that is to excavate contaminated soil and eliminate the pollution source. They know that no one would pay them for it. “We have already spent a million and a half on the temporary measures. But that’s only because we were ordered by the regulation of water administration office“, says Jakub Kanta, head of Emergency Services Division of the company Dekonta . How much the entire remediation would cost, no one can guess. It is not clear how much oil still remains in the soil.
Act imperfection
The Act which addresses ecological accidents can be applied only to two situations: if it is not known who caused the accident and in such a case the damage disposal is paid by regional authorities from their special funds, or if the trangressor is known and he has to pay for it. But Eurochemie is under a writ of execution and its property will apparently go to a forced auction. It may take months or even years to get a yield. “Ms Süssmilchová as a private person has not enough money to pay. She is up to her neck in debt“, says Nedbalová. And so the authorities for a month have been playing a mailing ping-pong among themselves ordering one another to pay for the damage. “But we know who the transgressor is.Thus, this is the town which has to pay and which has the right to recover the money from the transgressor”, says Jan Vtípil, the spokesperson for the Central Bohemia Regional Office.”We cannot pay for it. Eurochemie will not pay us for it and there are no funds for it in the town budget either”, says Nedbalová, a representative of the office in Kralupy. “It is the Act imperfection. It can happen any time again“, agree both the municipal and regional authorities.
22 March 2011
Mělnický deník daily
Oil Escaped into the Brook from the Former Pig Farm in Červená Lhota
Červená Lhota – At the end of winter, nearly ten cubic metres of light heating oil escaped from the area of the former pig farm in Červená Lhota to the brook Černávka, which near Obříství empties directly into the Elbe. Firefighters had to intervene at the site. According to Jan Hadrbolec, the fire brigade commander, the oil spill is completely under control. “We have installed spill containment booms and applied sorbent”, said Hadrbolec to the daily. But only four days later the firefighters from Mělnik had to intervene at the Černávka for the second time.
“Near Netřeba we’ve installed additional three spill containment booms to prevent the light heating oil spread”, added Hadrbolec.
Now, the elimination of the accident impact is being provided by the company Dekonta which has been pumping oil out of the water area. The Department of the Environment in Kralupy upon Vltava has also been dealing with the oil leak. According to Blanka Nedbalová from the mentioned department, 10 cubic metres of oil leaked from a boiler room, but only a small amount of it reached the Černávka.
“Most of the oil residues were held by the remnants of ice in a small stream of water flowing above the Černávka”, said Nedbalová and added that at present measures to secure the site are being taken in cooperation with the Elbe River Basin as well as the company Dekonta.
The case is being investigated by Mělnik Criminal Police as well, confirmed the
spokesperson Jana Žáčková. The accident was apparently caused by incompetent
interference in the boiler system.
17th March 2011
Idnes daily
Hazardous Acid Escaped from a Tank Nearby Brandýs and Polluted Soil
In the village Otradovice, the Mlada Boleslav Region, about 300 metres far from the exit road from a motorway, nitric acid has leaked into soil and air from a parked trailer with a tank. The firefighters have managed to get it under control after two hours. The owner has drawn off the substance into another tank. The affected soil, the acid leaked into, has to be excavated.
The tank contained about 19.5 tons of acid. The cause of the perforation was a rusty jacket.
Firefighters from Benátky upon Jizera as well as from Mladá Boleslav and Stará Boleslav arrived to the damaged tank. They immediately closed the surrounding area and access roads.
“It took the firefighters long to patch the hole which acid was leaking through into soil. The hole is only about one centimeter in diameter, but it is right at the bottom of the tank, which is difficult to access”, said Lenka Kostková, the spokeswoman for the Central Bohemia firefighters, to iDNES.cz. At the same time, the firefighters applied water spray to toxic fumes which were escaping into air from the leaking liquid. Some of the firefighters were wearing chemical protective suits.
The company Dekonta, which intervenes in similar cases and provides contaminated soil disposal, was also asked to help.
Shipping company, which is the owner of the damaged trailer, called for another tank to draw the acid off. “It arrived soon in the afternoon. According to the owner of the firm, another one should arrive as a backup”, said Kostková.
During the intervention, the firefighters were cooling the tank and spraying an escaping yellow cloud with water. The entire surrounding area of the accident was also being sprayed and neutralized with baking soda.
According to the spokeswoman, no residents in the surrounding villages are threatened.” There is no built-up area in the immediate vicinity. If there were some people living nearby, we would have to evacuate them”, explained the firefighters’ spokeswoman.
According to the current information, approximately 1,500 liters of the substance have escaped. Workers of the Department of Environment in Mladá Boleslav also arrived at the accident site.
19th March 2011
Boleslavský deník daily
Over 1500 Liters of Acid Spilled out into Nature!
Firefighters in chemical resistant suits were trying to patch the hole in the tank.
Mladá Boleslav - In Otradovice, the region of Mladá Boleslav, 1,500 liters of hazardous nitric acid have leaked from a parked tank and contaminated soil.
A specialized firm has excavated affected soil and hauled it by lorries for ecological disposal.
“In the parked trailer there was a total of 19.5 tons of acid which was drawn off into two other tanks by firefighters. Safety of people was not endangered”, said Lenka Kostková, the Central Bohemia firefighters’ spokeswoman.
The event occurred about 300 metres from the exit road from the R10. Police closed the site but there was no need to evacuate anybody because the accident happened outside the residential area. “Police officers are directing the traffic at the site because of the lorries carrying the excavated soil for ecological disposal“, said Štěpánka Zatloukalová, the spokeswoman for the police department of the Praha-venkov District Police. According to her, a failure of the tank did not complicate the traffic on the main route to Mladá Boleslav. Kostková informed that the firefighters in chemical resistant suits were trying to patch the hole in the tank having about a centimetre in diameter through which acid was leaking into soil.
They, however, succeeded in doing that only partially because the hole was difficult to access. Acid from the damaged tank was drawn off into two other tanks and the area near the accident site was neutralized with baking soda.
“The specialized company Dekonta provided the remediation intervention at the accident site“, added Kostková. .
31st January 2011
Mladá fronta Dnes daily
Ecological Accident May Threaten Water for the Whole Region
Environmental pollution, taking the form of chlorinated hydrocarbons based cleaning agent (tetrachloroethylene), is quietly approaching the source of drinking water in Litá which is supplying the Hradec Králové Region. Tetrachloroethylene escaped from the former state plant Elton in Nové Město upon Metuje.
NOVÉ MĚSTO UPON METUJE. Experts are afraid that if hazardous substances in the source spread, they will pollute water and it will have to be purified with large expenditures of money. In the worst case scenario, the affected water collecting area will be even excluded from operation for some period of time. Then it would be necessary to find another water supply source for the Hradec Králové Region. Whether it really threatens, we will see this year when the Town Hall selects the firm to examine and test the danger.
The State Environmental Fund has provided the town with the grant to eliminate the ecological impact, its total costs have been calculated by experts at 40 million Czech crowns. “Now we are in the phase of preparing a selection of a works contractor as well as another one who will be professionally controlling additional survey”, said Pavel Štras, the worker responsible for water management at the Department of Environment of the Municipal Office.
At the same time, the purpose of additional survey in multiple locations is to test the possibilities of groundwater contamination disposal. ”The range of the survey will be much wider than the previous ones. And it is also possible that pollution will be partly eliminated during the survey. How extensive environmental remediation will eventually be required, no one can guess today. Anyway, the results of these activities should show if and what part of the area has to be remediated”, said Pavel Štras.
Experts have found out that velocity of groundwater flow from Nové Město upon Metuje to Litá differs, in some locations it exceeds even five hundred metres per year. So far, groundwater contamination has not become massive, but because of the flow velocity it can spread to a large part of the Litá area during a few years or decades.
And what does groundwater actually contain? In the past, tetrachlorethylene and trichloroethylene, the degreasing agents for metal parts, escaped from the watchmaking enterprise. At present, there are also other substances formed during the decomposition of the primary ones, including carcinogenic vinyl chloride, beneath the ground surface.
The analysis carried out by the company Dekonta in 2006 showed that the substances had polluted rock environment mostly directly under the tanks for chlorinated hydrocarbons and under the buildings, where even soil air had been polluted.
Environmental remediation intervention at the former Elton.
The chemicals have spread in the upper reservoir of groundwater which supplies private wells, though far below the drinking water standards.The extent of pollution has already reached at least a few square kilometers.The most polluted is the lower reservoir of groundwater and this is where the remediation should be carried out. Pavel Štras thinks that the threat to the important water source Litá requires remediation intervention in the area of the former Elton so that pollution could no longer spread. A few years ago, the Town Hall got various methods of pollution disposal tested, for example, by a mixture of whey and molasses which supports a natural decomposition of pollutants,.“But it has turned out that time taken for decomposition had been longer than that required by the regulations for obtaining grants”, said Štras. The risk analysis elaborated in 2006 shows that so far there has been no risk to either the residents living in the surrounding area of the former plant, who have their own wells, or the employees of the firms. But threatened could be workers of construction companies who at the worst polluted sites would carry out excavation work.
Environmental burden also reduces the interest of companies in building establishments in the industrial zone, where the former watchmaking company Elton is situated.
Some time ago, the Town Hall asked the witnesses of the accident in the former Elton plant to report, even though anonymously. It is not known what the precise cause of the accident was, when the accident happened and what amount of chlorinated hydrocarbons escaped. Witnesses, who came forward with information, claimed that there had not been a large release of hazardous substances and that tetrachloroethylene apparently had been penetrating to the land continuously during a normal operation.
It is possible that tetrachloroethylene had been continuously penetrating to groundwater for many years, probably from the production beginning in the new plant of the company Elton in the second half of the 1970s until the year 1988. The witness also estimated that now up to ten cubic metres of tetrachlorethylene could be moving beneath the ground towards the springs at Litá. “But this is only the witness’s estimation”, said Pavel Štras.
28th January 2011
E15
The State Will Support Nuclear Physicists and Nanofibers
This year, the State is going to support two and a half times more industrial innovations than last year. While in 2010 the support year-to-year dropped from one billion to 350 million Czech crowns, this year less than two hundred projects will obtain grants and the Ministry of Industry and Trade allocated 800 million Czech crowns to them. According to Martin Kocourek, the Minister of Industry and Trade (MIT), every innovation is required to have a real chance to succeed in the market.
Public resources, for example, will be used to support the research of nanotechnologies, machining centres or ecological energetics. For example, the company Elmarco in Liberec has obtained a research grant for the third consecutive year and together with 75 million Czech crowns from the European Funds they have built modern laboratories. “They are used for the continuing development of Nanospider - the new generation of technology”, said Ondřej Veselý, the Finance Director of the company. Nanospider device is the only technology in the world which can produce nanofibers in industrial volumes. Four projects have been pushed forward by the company Dekonta which is focused on biological treatment of contaminated soil. Dozens of grants will be given to engineering enterprises having a great export potential. They include, for example, Kovosvit Mas, Žďas or První brněnská strojírenská (the First Machine-Work Brno) in Velká Bíteš.
Some amount of money will come to research institutes and universities. For example, Ústav jaderného výzkumu in Řež (Nuclear Research Institute Řež) has succeeded with the project on a new generation of nuclear power plants safety or technicians of ČVUT (CZTU) in Prague with several innovative ideas. The State will also support the largest companies, such as ČEZ (the Czech Power Plants) or ArcelorMittal Ostrava.The metallurgical giant intends to improve the properties of transformer steel and other high-grade materials. “The production of high-quality steel rises despite economic crisis”, the General Manager of Ostrava Steel Works, Augustine Kochuparampil, has previously explained their motivation to the E15 daily.