German Environment Minister Steffi Lemke predicted long-term damage to the Oder River, which has been hit by an environmental disaster. As a result, the fish died en masse. In an interview with a media company, the minister stressed that it is impossible to say whether the river will fully recover RND. “There’s been a lot more damage done to the Oder as an ecosystem than just killing fish,” Lemke says.
According to Makke, the reasons aren’t entirely clear yet. Although it assumes human-caused environmental pollution. An environmental catastrophe has arisen “possibly in combination with heat, lower water levels and higher water temperatures.”
Because of the problems in the Oder, it is being investigated whether discharges into rivers elsewhere could pose a risk in the future if temperatures rise.
“Chemicals, salts and nutrients are permanently and legally discharged into many rivers. Common sense says lower water levels and higher temperatures can be a bigger problem for a body of water than lower water temperatures and greater dilution,” the politician said.
Recently, tons of dead fish were washed up from the Oder. The exact reason for killing the fish is still not clear. According to scientists, the high salinity of the river, along with low water, high temperatures and toxic algae species, may be the causes of the environmental disaster.
