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Sewage in Vistula on Sentinel-2 images

On 27th and 28th August 2019 two collectors discharging sewage from left-bank Warsaw to the Czajka sawage treatment plant failed. Therefore, the discharge of wastewater from this part of the city straight to the Vistula River was started using the emergency sewage outlet at Farysa Street, north of the Maria Skłodowska-Curie Bridge. The discharge of sewage into the river averages 3 m³ per second. The preliminary, direct cause of the failure is said to be delamination of the collectors.

The plume of sewage flowing into the Vistula is visible in satellite images. On 28th August, at 11:56 a.m., the Sentinel-2 satellite captured the moment of sewage falling into water, four hours after the start of the emergency discharge procedure into the Vistula. 

The Crisis Information Centre CBK PAN prepared a situational map showing the place of discharge based on the Sentinel-2 optical satellite imagery acquired on 28th August (the day of failure) and 31st August. The Sentinel-2 images have been pre-processed, and thanks to the use of a colour composition in unnatural colours, the sewage stream along the left bank of the river is visible.

In the following days, the Crisis Information Centre will monitor the availablity and quality of satellite images for this area and provide updated situational maps. 

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