Work remains on Baltic sea cleanup

RIGA - “The Baltic Sea is one of the world’s most polluted seas, and it will take a long time to rehabilitate it,” said Harri Kerminen, president and director of water analysis company Kemira Oyj in the discussion “Waste water update in Latvia – old challenges and new approaches,” held on Aug. 23 in Riga. “The main problem of the Baltic Sea is that it is satiated with nutrients, where most of the pollution comes from agriculture and from municipal waste waters,” explained Ilka Herlin, chairman of Baltic Sea Action Group foundation. 

Nutrients can be used in a practical way, however, one example being to separate phosphorus and nitrogen from sludge, so that refined sludge can be used further in agriculture as organic manure, explained Kerminen.
“The Baltic Sea is a common responsibility for all of the surrounding countries. There is a need to have cross-sector cooperation between different stakeholders, private companies, NGO’s and governments to secure a cleaner future for the sea,” said Anna-Kaisa Saakinen, external communications manager at Kemira Oyj, highlighting the main conclusion of the seminar. “Not a single company, organization or single city can solve all the problems we have. So cooperation is needed,” says Herlin. He added that countries around the Baltic Sea need to improve legislation, activate awareness by the public, and recognize the situation.

In 2007 the intergovernmental organization The Helsinki Commission (HELCOM) made an ambitious action plan to renew the Baltic marine environment by 2021, at the latest. Mikhail Durkin, secretary of HELCOM, says it would be possible if countries joined forces, with a strong political plan.

Latvia has developed the basis of laws and regulations to fit in with the HELCOM plan.  This includes the Environment Protection Act, Water Management Act, the act “About pollution,” says Guntis Pukitis, state secretary of the Ministry of Environment of Latvia. From 1995 to 2009, there were 531 million lats (758.7 million euros) invested in water handling facilities, from which 56 percent came from foreign sources, mostly European Union funds. Twenty-six new facilities for waste water treatment have been built, with 18 reconstructed.

Pukitis adds that economizing on water use by households, as a result of increased prices for water and the usage of water meters, is also one of the reasons why pollution coming from municipal waste water into the sea has decreased. During the past 10 years the amount of municipal waste water in Latvia has decreased by half. Pukitis said Latvia still has problems to solve – the collection of rainwater, development of new build treatment facilities, and more attention by the public.

Herlin emphasizes the need of cooperation between the private and public sectors. He says organizations such as the Baltic Sea Action Group have been cooperating with private companies during the years, with private companies like Kemira Oyj offering prepared practical solutions in decreasing pollution into the sea. Treating sludge with nutrients, turning it into useful organic manure is an interesting option, not just for the Baltic countries, but also for the Middle European and Asia countries, adds Herlin.

Still, small countries such as Latvia are not the main polluters of the Baltic Sea. For example, half of the water pollution which flows into the sea from rivers comes from inland countries Belarus and Russia, explained Pukitis. Latvia has signed a cooperation agreement with Belarus on the issue, but conclusion of an agreement with Russia is still awaiting a positive answer.