The mass death of fish on the river Hron was caused by a leak of digestate from a biogas station in the village of Budča in the district of Zvolen on Monday, according to Richard Štencl, the top manager of the Local Organization of Slovak Fishermen's Association in Žiar nad Hronom. This conclusion was confirmed by Vasilii Repela, the CEO of Bioplyn Budča. "Fishermen reported the occurrence of dead fish on the Hron River near the village of Trnava Hora. We then discovered that the water in the Hron was very cloudy, smelly and opaque," said Štencl, adding that they immediately contacted both the Slovak Environment Inspectorate and the police. The fishermen collected about 600 kilograms of dead fish. "The amount of oxygen in the water was reduced and the fish began to suffocate. This is an ecological catastrophe," Štencl explained, adding that it will take years to breed generational herds of some of the species.
"As a result of a severe storm in the vicinity of Budča, a tree fell, damaging the bag that Bioplyn Budča uses to store digestate. The rupture of the bag caused the leakage of approximately 400 cubic meters of digestate into the Bienské brook, and subsequently into the Hron watercourse," said Vasilii Repela, CEO of Bioplyn Budča, in a statement. He added that the company took immediate steps to prevent the leakage of organic fertilizer and continued trying to repair the damage caused by the storm.
The Environemnt Ministry, the Slovak Water Management Company (SVP), and the Slovak Environment Inspectorate (SIŽP) are resolving the situation in cooperation both with the police and the manager of the biogas plant.
