NEWS

Pollution flows again in Kifissos

Raw industrial waste has been dumped in the Kifissos River in Athens and has run into the Saronic Gulf, prefectural authorities in Piraeus said yesterday as they passed on the relevant information to a local prosecutor. The waste was likely dropped into the river by one of the businesses located along its course or by trucks, said officials who discovered on Tuesday that the Kifissos had been polluted. The Prefecture of Piraeus was alerted to the problem by people living close to the Kifissos after they complained about a foul smell coming from the river. «From where the river meets Pireos Street to its mouth in Neo Faliron, an intense and unpleasant oily smell was detected, while large oily globules were found on the surface of the water,» prefectural officials wrote. Their report was passed on to a Piraeus prosecutor, who will attempt to find out who dumped the waste in the river. The Kifissos River has been blighted by pollution in the past and a study last year by environmental experts from the Public Works and Environment Ministry found that factories often dumped their untreated waste into the water. Ministry officials concluded then that factories, workshops and tanneries located along the river in Rendi, Moschato and Tavros were illegal and should be moved, but this has not happened. The Kifissos flows from mounts Parnitha and Aegaleo into the sea at Neo Faliron, but most of it has been covered and built over. The Prefecture of Piraeus also charged yesterday that the lack of environmental protection for the river was having a «serious impact» on the health of those living close to its banks.

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