Environmental alarm in Pöllau

Technical defect: 50,000 liters of liquid manure spilled out

The Prätisbach was heavily polluted.(Bild: FF Pöllau)

Due to a technical defect caused by the persistent cold, around 50,000 liters of liquid manure leaked out in Pöllau (Hartberg district) on Sunday afternoon. Via a few detours, the faeces also reached the Prätisbach. The environmental consequences are not yet foreseeable. 

A neighbor alerted a farmer (51) on Sunday morning about the leakage of the viscous liquid manure on the farm. The East Styrian then tried to stop the obviously defective slurry separator, which separates the solids from the liquid manure. He succeeded after around half an hour.

The fire department immediately set up barriers
In the meantime, around 50 cubic meters of liquid manure had already leaked out. While part of it was collected in the concreted storage area, the other part ran over a sloping meadow, a wooded area and a sewer pipe into the Prätisbach. Emergency services from the Pöllau fire department were alerted and set up barriers and a retention basin. The environmental service of the Hartberg-Fürstenfeld district authority was also alerted.

The team from the Pöllau volunteer fire department tried to prevent anything worse from happening(Bild: FF Pöllau)

Experts subsequently arranged for water samples to be taken. 29 members of the Pöllau fire department were deployed for the clean-up work. No one was injured.

Investigations are still ongoing
The extent to which the animal or plant population was damaged has not yet been determined. A police officer specially trained in environmental crimes has started the investigation. According to this, the persistent and freezing cold is likely to have caused the slurry separator to malfunction. However, the investigation is still ongoing.