Citizens living in areas along the Vistula river, the longest waterway in Poland, and that empties into the Baltic Sea, have been warned by the country’s authorities on Thursday of a “crisis” situation due to a defect in Warsaw’s new sewage collection plant.
The health minister Łukasz Szumowski and local officials announced that they are carefully monitoring the levels of infection north of the Polish capital, including by nitrogen, reports Phys Org.
The situation began on Tuesday but authorities have not revealed the results of the tests. The sewage is being discharged at about 3,000 liters (nearly 800 gallons) a second at Warsaw's northern edge and goes north without affecting the city's waters, authorities said.
Szumowki has recommended residents to boil water before use, even for brushing teeth, and not to fish or swim in the Vistula.
"There is no reason for panic and there is no threat to the health of Warsaw residents," Mayor of Warsaw Rafal Trzaskowski said.
Trzaskowski added that professionals were fixing the malfunction at the sewage plant, which will take more than three days.
It still isn’t clear what caused the sewage collection system, including an emergency backup, to fail.
