Oil slick spotted in river

An oil slick was spotted in the Rezekne River in Rezekne's Ziemeli suburb on Feb. 12 with two abandoned filling stations are suspected to be the cause.

Rezekne Vice-Mayor Andrejs Resetnikovs has said  experts are also inspecting the local oil storage facility where oil products may have seeped from old tanks. Given the subzero temperatures in the city, it appears that the oil was not absorbed by the ground, but trickled to the the river.

"At any rate, neither Rezekne nor the Rezekne River will suffer an environmental disaster because the amount of oil products in the river is insignificant and the pollution has been halted," stressed Resetnikovs.

The oil slick in Rezekne River was spotted by a railroad worker on Tuesday, who reported it to the authorities.

The Fire and Rescue Service's Rezekne Department officers took prompt action to mop up oil spill up. It was also established that the oil spill had come from a rainwater collector, but the primary source of pollution is unclear at this time.