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Dead zander near Lebus in Brandenburg (picture from August 11)
Photo: Winfried Mausolf / IMAGO
Apparently, the values in the Oder changed dramatically on August 7th - this can be seen on the website of the Brandenburg State Environment Agency, where the results of the past 31 days are always displayed.
Oxygen levels, pH levels, turbidity, and other values all shot up that day, while nitrate-nitrogen levels dropped significantly.
At the automatic measuring station in Frankfurt (Oder) on the Brandenburg side, water samples are taken regularly, said the spokesman for the Ministry of the Environment, Sebastian Arnold.
Samples are taken at regular intervals 1.5 meters below the surface of the water and are usually analyzed for values such as water temperature, pH or oxygen content.
Arnold explains that the samples in the state laboratory are now being examined for numerous other values and toxins.
In the search for the cause of the fish deaths in the Oder, the Brandenburg State Environment Agency evaluated the first laboratory results.
The results transmitted on Monday evening by the Berlin-Brandenburg state laboratory in a first tranche did not show particularly high values for metals such as mercury, Arnold said on Tuesday on request, as reported by dpa.
A single cause for the environmental catastrophe cannot be identified.
"The studies on nutrients that are not yet complete and not yet comprehensive and completed do not yet allow any indication of a single cause for the fish kill in the Oder," says Sebastian Arnold.
"Furthermore, high salt loads and a high oxygen content are found." The state laboratory is examining other water samples from different days and measuring points as well as fish.
The data would be continuously transmitted and evaluated.
Nearly 100 tons of dead fish recovered in Poland
According to their own statements, the Polish fire brigade has so far recovered almost a hundred tons of dead fish from the border river and the smaller river Ner.
A total of 97.95 tons, said the spokeswoman for the fire brigade headquarters in Warsaw.
The majority of this is accounted for by the dead fish from the Oder.
The Ner is a small river that rises south of Lodz and flows into the Warta.
He has no connection to the Oder.
Dead fish have also been discovered in the Ner for a few days.
The cause of the fish deaths there is unknown – as is the case for the natural disaster in the Oder.
In Brandenburg, too, helpers collected the fish carcasses on the Oder.
The dead animals are destroyed in special incinerators.
There was no information about the quantities collected in Germany.
According to Polish authorities, dead fish have also been found south of the port city of Szczecin in canals connected to the Oder.
This means that the contaminated water masses are moving towards Szczecin, said the head of the regional administration for the West Pomeranian Voivodeship, Zbigniew Bogucki, on Tuesday.
ani/dpa