Last week, Vilniaus vandenys company specialists identified another case of illegal wastewater management, when the offender arbitrarily poured wastewater into the water management company's wastewater networks. The company records dozens of such cases every year. This time, an active local community helped to "catch" the offender, who were concerned and informed the company about the bad smells that had been emanating from the area for some time.
"Vilniaus vandenys" recorded the illegal treatment of waste water in the area of Kalvarijju st. 161, where a car belonging to the company "August VFL" illegally dumped unaccounted waste into the well located at the waste water receiving point operated by the company. After residents' complaints about the recurring bad smell, it was found out that this is not the first case of illegal discharge of sewage in this area.
At the pumping station located at this address and belonging to the company "Vilniaus vandenys", the company has installed a point for receiving sewage from carriers with a transport identification and sewage accounting system with a stationary flow meter. It was established that during this year the car of August VFL was recorded at this place as many as 59 times, although the company "Vilniaus vandenys" was not notified about the discharge of sewage in order to be recorded and accounted for by August VFL. It is estimated that during the mentioned period, August VFL could discharge more than 88 cubic meters of unaccounted sewage into the networks operated by the company "Vilniaus vandenys". In comparison, this volume is made up of a large sea container.
"This is not the first time we have come across malicious and fraudulent activities. In this case, we are especially happy that we were helped to identify the offender not only by the available equipment, but also by an active local community. With the help of flowmeters, we have already managed to identify several dozen areas and companies from which several times more wastewater flows than they declare. We respond to every such case and investigate it to the end: we not only identify the source of pollution, we determine the route by which the wastewater entered our networks, what substances the illegally discharged wastewater was contaminated with, etc.," says Marius, CEO of Vilniaus Vandenys. Švaikauskas
According to him, "Vilniaus vandenys" suffers losses every year due to illegal connections to the operated sewage networks or illegal discharges of sewage into the company's wells. Therefore, flow meters are one of the initiatives implemented by the company in recent years to improve operational efficiency. However, illegal dumping of wastewater does not cause the greatest damage to the company itself, but to nature or the surrounding residents: they are bothered by bad smells, illegal substances are often found in illegally dumped wastewater, which treatment facilities are unable to clean (for example, plastic particles) or even toxic pollutants.
Since last year, the company has started using not only stationary but also modern mobile sewage flow meters in its activities, which have become a great helper in the fight against environmental pollutants. The advantage of portable wastewater flowmeters is that they can be installed in different places where the customers' wastewater enters the networks operated by the company.
In such cases, companies engaged in dishonest activities are obliged to stop the discharge of illegal sewage, they are billed for the already discharged sewage, its collection and treatment. In extremely malicious cases, "Vilniaus vandenys" is required to compensate the damage caused to the company or nature from dishonest companies.
"Vilniaus vandenys" regularly checks the wastewater of more than 500 companies. Based on the available data, the company performed an analysis of the most polluting 500 legal clients and in May of this year compiled a ranking of the most polluting sectors (branches of industry) and a pollution map of the city of Vilnius. It can be seen from them that increased pollution is recorded in practically all areas of Vilnius. The worst situation is in the southern districts of the city, where there are many industries and transport companies. The limits of heavy metals such as aluminum and zinc are often exceeded. The increased pollution of nitrogen and phosphorus compounds and phthalates is recorded here.
