The Causes of the Pollution in the Emergency Reserve Power Plants Have Been Identified and the Pollution Has Been Eliminated

The causes of the environmental pollution discovered at Elering’s emergency reserve power plants in the beginning of August have been identified and the pollution has been eliminated.

The committee established to identify the circumstances of the accident has submitted a final report, according to which the pollution was caused by the faulty operation of the residue collection system. This was possible due to shortcomings in the works of Wärtsilä Finland OY, the company that constructed the plants. The deficiencies have been eliminated.

Elering is calculating the expenditure related to the environmental pollution and intends to claim these from the building contractor.

Following the discovery of the pollution, Elering immediately launched activities to locate and eliminate the pollution. Several companies engaged with handling of hazardous substances were involved. The environmental resource management company Hendrikson & Ko advised Elering in the planning and execution of these activities.

Activities in the emergency reserve power plants and the pollution-affected Soo stream were completed in August. According to water tests collected from several sections of the stream, the water quality has significantly improved during the elimination of the pollution, and the petrochemical content in the rainwater discharge area of the emergency reserve power plants is below the limits set for rainwater.

Several absorbing barriers are still on the rainwater discharge area of the stream to catch the leftover pollution in the water. The monitoring of the stream will also continue with additional check-up measurements of the water and sediment.