The Emergency Situations Commission, which met today in the capital's municipality, decided to cancel the emergency situation in the capital from tomorrow, as the accident on Upė Street was successfully liquidated - the tests carried out by "Vilniaus Vandenės" show that the sewage flow resumed in the repaired pipeline works in a normal mode, but it will continue to be carefully monitored. After the cancellation of the state of emergency, further investigations into the identification of the culprits and the damage to nature will continue separately: the cause of the accident will be investigated by the commission established by the State Territorial Planning and Construction Inspectorate under the Ministry of Interior, and the environmental protection department of the Vilnius region will determine the damage caused to nature. The latest data is expected to be collected by next week.
We remind you that last Friday the accident on Upės st. during the year, two main sewage pipes were broken, through which sewage flows from the pumping station on Upės street to the Vilnius sewage treatment plant near Gariūnai. Sewage flows through these main pipes from Žirmūnai, Antakalnis, Baltupii and Jerusalem districts. Although most of Vilnius' drinking water and sewage pipes were installed several decades ago, the lines affected by the accident were installed only 10 years ago, during the construction of the first office building "Green Hall". During the liquidation of the accident, both broken pipes were connected. Sewage flow through the pipeline was resumed on Saturday at around 21 pm.
Immediately after the accident, as far as it was technologically possible, part of the wastewater was diverted through other pipelines. When the reservoir installed at the pumping station was not enough, the size of which is sufficient to collect sewage for several hours, inevitably part of the recycled sewage entered the Neris. According to preliminary data, approximately 20 thousand were released into the river due to the accident. cubic meters of wastewater, more accurate figures will reach the Environmental Protection Department of the Vilnius region in the coming days. According to the experts of "Vilniaus vandenės", about half of the wastewater generated at that time and released into the river consisted of surface rainwater. The remaining half is domestic wastewater, which is partially physically cleaned at intermediate sewage stations.
In order to reduce the amount of wastewater entering the Neris, after the accident, the water pressure was reduced in the micro-districts of Žirmūnai, Antakalnis, Baltupių and Jeruzalė.
If the water is turned off completely, it would have a very negative impact on Antakalnis, Santariškii hospitals, maternity homes, and other institutions for which water is vital. In just one day, about 500 children visit the Santariškii Children's Hospital, 350 receive regular treatment, in total about 800-900 patients stay in the Santariskii Hospital. During the liquidation of the accident, 10 newborns were born in Antakalnis hospital. If the water had been turned off for a few days during the accident, then the hospitals would have had to be closed, and the patients and pregnant women would have been transferred to other medical institutions. It is not even possible to transfer some patient wards to other medical facilities, e.g. after a bone marrow transplant, stroke, etc. According to representatives of treatment facilities, turning off the water, even for a few hours, would be a real test for them. Santariški medical facilities do not have any water tanks that would be filled with water in such a case.
In addition, stopping the water supply would have blocked the sewage lines in the apartment buildings, which could have led to other accidents.
Evaluating the emergency liquidation operation, the mayor R. Šimašius noticed that although the accident itself was liquidated promptly, there is something to improve, something to learn from, in order to manage crises even more promptly in the future. Although there was a lot of information about the event in the public space and it was operative, its dissemination could have been even better with the help of all Vilnius residents - the opportunity to transmit short messages to residents through the GPIS system was not properly used. In the near future, the municipality will necessarily initiate a meeting with representatives of the media and rescue services in order to better inform the public in cases of crises. By improving regulation and reducing bureaucratic obstacles, the Emergency Situations Commission itself could function more flexibly and promptly, because now the legal regulation of emergency situations is too bureaucratic. According to the mayor, it must be possible to declare an emergency even without the commission meeting.
