Household sewage in Smuga Umianowicka !!!

Last week, we cleaned the renovated damming water structures on Smuga Umianowicka. The works consisted in removing the bank vegetation accumulated at the gates, as well as sticks and branches originating from the beavers’ existence. The measures were aimed at securing the building against the possibility of sudden floods caused by the forecasted storms.

To our surprise, it turned out that a sewage sludge had formed on the vegetation gathered on one of the gates below the village of Umianowice. The backwater of the stinking faeces forming a sludge, up to 10 cm thick, was more than 15 m from the building. Consistency and smell in the organoleptic assessment indicated that with high probability this is sewage coming from households. This is a drama for the delta’s natural environment. Apart from water contamination in the watercourse and on the backwaters, discharges of sewage to surface waters cause eutrophication and contribute to the overgrowing of the bed and the creation of anaerobic conditions in the water. Depending on the intensification of this practice, it may lead to the formation of ecological deserts.

Text: Andrzej Łukasik

Photos: Life4Delta project team.