Firms polluting Kifissos River
More than 150 manufacturers are still operating illegally along the banks of Attica’s Kifissos River, spilling toxic waste into the already polluted waterway, following the expiry of a second extension to an order for the firms to relocate, environmentalists say. According to Panayiotis Siskos, an environmental chemistry professor at Athens University who heads an association set up to protect the river, illegal construction and the granting of licenses has flourished in recent years despite the issuance of a presidential decree in 1994 that restricts development in the area. «Over the past year, we have conducted dozens of checks and we have determined the existence of at least 100 illegal structures,» Siskos said, adding that industrial activity along the banks of the Kifissos has resulted in the «systematic pollution of the river» as has been the case with the Asopos River in central Greece. Siskos and other environmentalists propose the creation of a metropolitan park on the banks of the Kifissos.
