The hastily buried mink carcasses in the fight against Covid-19 are indeed a source of pollution, as the authorities had predicted in December.
But the good news is that there is no direct impact on drinking water, the Danish Environment Agency said on Friday.
“It is important to stress that the experts clearly show that there is no risk for drinking water.
And they point to proven treatment methods that can remove pollution before it reaches lakes and streams, ”agency official Charlotte Moosdorf said in the statement.
The fear of a mutant virus
In November, Denmark decided to eliminate all of its mink herd because these some 15 million animals were suspected of carrying and transmitting a mutation of the coronavirus potentially problematic for humans.
At least 12 people have been infected with the mutant mink virus in this Scandinavian country.
In France, a thousand of these small mammals appreciated for their fur had been slaughtered in November in Eure-et-Loir.
Fearing phosphorus and nitrogen pollution from the decomposition of the bodies of dead animals in areas where they had been urgently buried, Copenhagen decided in December to unearth the four million carcasses when their possible contagious risk. will have completely disappeared, to be then incinerated as waste.
“Substances from buried mink were found under the pits (...).
The first step now is to collect and clean up, ”the agency said on Friday.
The two landfills are located in the western part of the Nordic country of 5.8 million people.
In one of them, signs of pollution were detected in three of the 32 boreholes drilled and in one of 26 on the other site.
This is nitrogen and ammonia pollution.