Environment Fish die due to liquid manure spill in Ruswil's Bielbach stream
On Wednesday morning, a large quantity of liquid manure polluted the Bielbach in Ruswil and subsequent watercourses as far as the Kleine Emme. This resulted in a fish kill. The exact extent of the damage is still unclear.
25.07.2024, 11:12
25.07.2024, 11:39
SDA
The liquid manure came from a biogas plant. For unclear reasons, the biomass in one of the silos became over-acidified and foamed up, as Urs Wigger, media spokesman for the Lucerne police, told Keystone-SDA on Thursday. This caused the protective tarpaulin stretched over the silo to inflate and tear. The liquid manure leaked out, flowed into an adjacent maize field and reached the stream via a drainage shaft.
After the incident was reported, the fire departments set up several dams to pump out the slurry and flush the affected sections, according to a statement from Lucerne police on Thursday.
Investigations into the exact cause are still ongoing, according to Wigger. The extent of the damage is also being assessed by the Environment and Energy Service and the Fisheries Department of the Agriculture and Forestry Service.
