Eddie, Moni and I set off by bike to the Vistula. It's just under 15km/ten miles from home, through the Las Kabacki forest. Across the Warsaw-to-Konstancin highway, we reach an interesting hinterland where development is sparse and farmland still prevails. If there's development I would like to see more of, it's sewage treatment plants. Right now, raw sewage is still pumped directly into the river that flows through Poland's capital; no wonder Warsaw has its back turned to the Vistula. Unlike other major European cities, where the riverbanks are lined with cafes, shops, promenades etc., the banks of the Vistula are unkempt and wild. The water is filthy with floating plop-plops.
Above: Bielawa, where the Okęcie-Siekierki coal line rumbles over flat fields on the last leg to the power station.
Right: The railway bridge adjacent to the level crossing. Graffiti on the bridge, now fading, reads: 'Okrzeszyn City, każdy obcy będzie bity' (Okrzeszyn City, every stranger will be beaten).Symptomatic of backward, introspective attitudes that prevailed across rural Poland, let's hope they are fading, just like the paint that expressed the sentiment.
Above: the floodbank protecting the Vistula's low-lying hinterlands. A good off-road cycle track with views for much of the way out of Warsaw. I wonder how far south it continues? Below: Taken a few days earlier, late evening near Okrzeszyn, a mile away. The dusty road puts me in mind of 1930s America, yet again. Street lighting betrays the presence of suburbia. It's not rained in over two and half weeks.
The water is filthy with floating plop-plops. - Seriously?
ReplyDeleteWhy isn't something being done about this?
Three went by in the space of a minute. The EU is giving Polish municipalities to 2019 (15 years after accession) to ensure 100% coverage of the land by sewage treatment plants. There's EU money on the table, lots of private sector companies interested - all that's needed to make it happen is political will at the local level.
ReplyDeleteIn the meanwhile, don't even think of wading in the Vistula!
The Bug, on the other hand, avoiding larger towns, is cleaner.
In Melbourne, the Yarra river flows through the centre of the city, and until 20 years ago was treated as an open drain. There were official health warnings not to swim in the water. The government addressed the problem so there is no sewerage in the river, factory waste is prohibited and rubbish is filtered out. The biggest change was the development of a large retail and cafe boulevard (Southbank)along the river in place of factories and warehouses. The commercial development has changed people's view of the river and opened an attractive tourist venue.
ReplyDeleteI'll be following this story for 20 years, so we shall see what becomes of Warsaw's river!
ReplyDeleteMy mistake - not 2019 but 2015. By then the European Commission will be fining local authorities that continue to pour untreated sewage into rivers.
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