Thermaic Gulf becomes a dead sea in 30 years
Rivers of pollution are pouring daily into the Thermaic Gulf, perpetuating an environmental crime that has been going on for the past three decades in the most important marine region of northern Greece. Floods of sewage, agricultural chemicals – including fertilizers, oil and other petroleum products – even overflow from Thessaloniki’s old drains flow into the sea during downpours, just a few meters from the airport, a short distance from the main port and next to wetlands protected by international treaties. Central Macedonia’s gulf is a cesspool that has swallowed up pompous announcements by government officials in the past who claimed that by 2000 it would be possible to swim along the city’s old shoreline. The problem has reared its head again following a field study by a newly established department at Macedonia-Thrace Ministry, the Thermaic Gulf Protection and Development Department. In May, the department began taking an inventory of all the problems in the gulf, for the first time pinpointing all land-based sources of pollution from Epanomi (eastern Thermaic Gulf) to the mouth of the Aliakmonas River (to the west of the gulf). They produced maps and photographs of the six main sources of pollution – rivers, watercourses, drainage trenches, tanneries, overflow trenches and inefficient waste treatment plants (that do not have third-stage processing). The Thermaic Gulf, according to scientists at Thessaloniki University, has not been cleaned up and whatever benefits were to be had from waste-processing plants have been canceled out by the increased pollution of sources that have not been dealt with in recent years, as well as new sources that have emerged from the expansion of human activity. Constantinos Fytianos, an associate professor of chemistry and scientific advisor to the department, said that one-third of the pollution in the gulf comes from the three major rivers (Axios, Loudias, Aliakmonas) that flow into it. Other pollutants (mainly urban waste and industrial effluent from the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia) flows down from the Axios. Effluent in the Anthemounda (near the airport), Finika and Dendropotamos streams and some of their tributaries are causing concern among the authorities over the possibility that some of the waste-treatment plants at industries around Kalochori and urban waste treatment plants are not always working. Scientists have already found small canals and pipelines that flow into the Thermaic Gulf, and much of the garbage along the old coastline and in front of the White Tower comes from the overflow of old channels linked to the central drains and which flood in heavy rain. However, the biggest problems stem from violations of the law, according to the department’s head, Nikoletta Tsikoti. The survey pointed to the worst case as being a muddy stream near the tanneries, right next to the Sixth Wharf in the port, where the waste is over 8 meters deep. «The stench is unbearable and the situation indescribable,» she said. The authorities have given the area top priority for a cleanup. In a previous study by the Environmental Pollution Control Laboratory at Thessaloniki University, traces of heavy metals were found along the coast. Particularly high were traces of mercury and copper, mainly in the areas around Karabourno (Perea, Michaniona and the airport) and Makriyialo, Pieria, possibly from agricultural effluent in the form of pesticides containing copper, from nearby polluted streams, household waste and effluent from waste dumps. High concentrations of chromium have been found along the Kalochori coastline, an indication of the on-going pollution from tanneries. The laboratory’s survey, although expressing optimism about the future of the gulf’s ecological status, emphasizes that «high concentrations of pollutants in coastal areas are giving rise to great concern due to, if not the absence then the ineffectiveness of measures taken to protect the environment.»
