An accident at a sewage treatment plant in western Latvia has caused a large amount of untreated sewage to spill into the Baltic Sea. Lithuania’s Klaipėda Beaches recommends people to refrain from swimming in the Baltic Sea until its water has been analysed.
At least 1,250 tonnes of waste with sulphur-laden sludge leaked when a factory wall collapsed on Sunday in the coastal Latvian town of Liepāja, which has a population of 70,000.
The Latvian Hygiene Inspectorate has ordered the closure of all beaches 40 kilometres north of Liepāja and banned swimming in the Baltic Sea.
The flow of sewage into the sea was stopped on Tuesday, Evita Šestakova, head of the Latvian State Environmental Protection Service’s Kurzeme Department, told Latvian television TV3.
Klaipėda Beaches says it is advised to refrain from swimming off the coast of Lithuania until the composition of the Baltic Sea water has been analysed.
“Due to the ecological disaster in Liepāja, where a large amount of pollutants spilt into the sea, we RECOMMEND that you refrain from swimming in the Baltic Sea! Samples are currently being taken to determine the quality of the water, and we will inform you immediately upon receipt of the results,” it wrote on Facebook.
Latvian geologists say that after monitoring, there are no potential impacts on human health and fish stocks due to the spillage.
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