Environmental tests find no pollution in Naujoji Vilnia

Final environmental tests found no pollution in the Vilnelė River or ambient air in Naujoji Vilnia, LRT reported, citing Lithuania’s Environmental Protection Department.

The department commissioned the tests after residents reported unpleasant odours and to assess the environmental impact of mixed municipal waste handling in the area.

The Environmental Protection Agency measured air quality and tested water from the Vilnelė. Pollution was not detected in the river, and air-quality measurements showed no exceedances of established limits.

The highest ammonia concentration recorded was 0.067 milligrams per cubic metre, compared with a limit of 0.2 milligrams. The highest hydrogen sulphide concentration was 0.002 milligrams per cubic metre, against a limit of 0.008 milligrams. The mercaptan concentration was below the detection limit of the testing method.

Mixed municipal waste deliveries to the Šatruva company’s operating site at 141A Pramonės Street in Naujoji Vilnia were halted on August 31 by a decision of the Vilnius municipal Emergency Situations Operations Centre.

The waste had been handled there by Ekonovus under an earlier decision adopted during the emergency situation concerning waste management in the Vilnius region. Ekonovus was ordered to remove all remaining mixed municipal waste from the site and clean the area by Thursday.

After the deadline, Environmental Protection Department officials will conduct an inspection to check whether the waste has been removed and the site has been cleaned.

An emergency situation was declared after a fire at the Vilnius mechanical-biological treatment facility in Gariūnai last spring and remains in force. In July, the Vilnius County Waste Management Centre terminated its contract with the facility’s private operator, Energesman, which it said had failed to meet its obligations.

The waste management centre signed agreements with three private partners, Ecoservice, Ekonovus and Ekobazė, to handle waste remaining at the facility and the daily waste flow. The companies sort the collected waste at their own sites, including Šatruva’s site in Naujoji Vilnia.

The Environmental Protection Department had previously proposed that the Vilnius Emergency Situations Operations Centre set deadlines for removing pollution violations identified in Naujoji Vilnia and relocating waste handling elsewhere. It had also asked the prosecutor’s office to assess whether the centre’s decisions assigning mixed municipal waste handling to the waste management centre and the three private companies complied with legal requirements.