It will take longer than a few days to fix the sewage-collecting tanks for "Czajka" waste treatment plant - the Mayor of Warsaw Rafał Trzaskowski said on Thursday after the meeting of the crisis control group. He stressed that it was too early to determine the exact cause of the malfunction. He also reassured that the authorities were searching solutions.
Trzaskowski reassured at a press conference that experts were working around the clock to determine the cause and effects of the malfunction. "At present, it's too early to discuss the causes, because we will determining them in the coming hours and days," he stressed. "The difficulty lies in taking off a huge concrete cover," he added.
The mayor underscored that necessary measurments were being conducted, among others, by government services. The city services are also involved. Trzaskowski added that Warsaw would also help other cities that are located along the Vistula shores.
Trzaskowski said that it won't be possible to fix the tanks in a few days. "It will take longer, but we should now how long exactly in the coming days," he explained and reassured that the city hall was seeking innovative solutions.
He reminded that appropriate services had been immediately notified about the malfunction. He added that he didn't "understand what was going on a political level".
"Typically, in the civilized world, in situations like this one, all services and all politicians work together. Later on, there comes a time to ask questions and draw conclusions, that's only natural. Nevertheless, in the beginning, everyone is cooperating. In this case, literally minutes after the accident was revealed, we saw PiS politicians twisting the reality and trying to make political campaign on this malfunction," Trzaskowski said.
The Mayor of Warsaw also reassured that "there's no reason to panic". He also expressed his disappointment that instead of help in solving the problem "we must deal with manipulation, lies and spreading of panic". He added that "the situation does not pose any threat to the lives of the residents, or the quality of water in Warsaw".
"There's no ecological disaster. We have a very serious malfunction, and no one is trying to downplay it," he said. "We must monitor the quality of water in the river, especially below the level where it was released. And that's what we're doing," he added.
Trzaskowski also informed that he had received information from the city of Płock that "there's no risk as to the water intake". He added that he hoped that "within the next 24 hours we'd be able to provide more details regarding fixing the malfunction".
"We will be keeping you up to date. Today I can certainly tell you that fixing will take longer than two or three days. However, I can't tell you exactly how long," he said.
In his view, "this situation had no precendent, when it comes to the malfunction of both main and emergency systems".
Warsaw city authorities informed about the malfunction of the sewage tanks on Wednesday. Due to the malfunction, the Municipal Water Supply and Sewerage Company (MPWiK) decided to perform a controlled drop of the waste into the Vistula river.
Due to the malfunction, the Municipal Water Supply and Sewerage Company (MPWiK) decided to perform a controlled drop of the waste into the Vistula river. (http://www.tvn24.pl)
Autor: gf / Źródło: TVN24 News in English, PAP
Źródło zdjęcia głównego: TVN Warszawa