NEWS

Water pledge for Oinofyta

The Environment Ministry said yesterday that the industrialized Oinofyta area, north of Attica, where water has repeatedly tested positive for carcinogenic hexavalent chromium, would henceforth be supplied with drinking water from the Mornos reservoir, which also supplies the capital with drinking water. A day after a new scientific study revealed that the rate of cancer-related deaths among residents of Oinofyta is significantly higher than among residents in the broader prefecture of Viotia, the ministry said it plans to switch Oinofyta’s supply from the Asopos River, where pollution levels are known to be high, to the Mornos reservoir. «The ministry acknowledges the major problems of the region and dangers of hexavalent chromium,» a written statement said. According to an Athens University study, a quarter of the 474 deaths registered in Oinofyta in the period between 1999 and 2009 were caused by cancer. According to the authors of the report, the high rate of fatalities in Oinofyta is probably linked to industrial pollution in the area.

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