This morning, the mayor of Vilnius arrived for the second time at the place of liquidation of the accident that occurred on Upės Street in the capital Remigius Šimašius thanked the workers who spared no effort here during the night and did much more than planned, as well as the people of Vilnius who live in Žirmūnai, Jerusalem, in the districts of Baltupių and Antakalnis, who yesterday asked the mayor to reduce water consumption as much as possible, and sewage until the emergency is liquidated, so that as little sewage as possible enters the river. The crash is expected to be cleared sooner than planned, possibly as late as tonight.
"I want to thank the citizens of Vilnius, who reduced the amount of sewage, so that from late evening until now, as little damage as possible was done to the river. Until the liquidation of the accident is completed, I ask the people of Vilnius to continue to limit water consumption and the amount of wastewater as much as possible, because this will be the protection of nature for all of us.
The mayor drew attention to the seriousness of the situation: If it had been possible to liquidate the accident within 2-3 hours, a different decision would have been taken - the resident was shut down and the water supply was restricted, but the emergency committee, which was convened urgently, examined the situation and decided to leave the children without water during the festive period , the elderly, the disabled and other townspeople would be inhumane and unfair to everyone, especially at a time when water consumption is critically important and necessary.
"I want to say that the state of emergency was declared as soon as the seriousness of the situation became clear. The urgently convened Emergency Situations Commission hastily convened not because the collapse occurred, but because a decision had to be made - whether to turn off the water to almost half of the residents of Vilnius, or accept the fact that, even though it has been cleaned, some of the pollutants will enter the Neris." - said the Mayor.
The mayor of Vilnius reviewed the liquidation works of the accident: during the night, soil was brought to the accident site and the pit formed near the broken pipes was filled. At the moment, the soil is being consolidated, and in the afternoon it is already planned to start the restoration of the sewage pipes.
After yesterday's accident, sewage was accumulated in the intermediate sewage for several hours at the station, located a few hundred meters from the accident site. However, in the evening, when the intermediate reservoirs were overflowing, they began to be released into the Neris River, near the bridge near the University of Education.
Wastewater is usually pumped from the pump station on Upės Street to the Vilnius Wastewater Treatment Plant located near Gariūnai through the broken main sewage pipes. Sewage flows through these pipes from Žirmūnai, Antakalnis, Baltupių and Jeruzalė microdistricts. Part of this wastewater, as far as technological possibilities allow, is pumped through the surrounding routes. Two pipes were installed at this location, one normally used as a backup. Unfortunately, both were discontinued during the crash.
The cause of the incident has not yet been determined. According to the mayor, the damage caused is huge and even the slightest discharge into the river is unforgivable. After investigation, damages will be recovered from the guilty parties. And the declared state of emergency will remain until the accident is resolved.
