HELCOM deletes another Lithuanian Hot Spot from the Baltic Sea major polluters list

Helsinki, 12 August (HELCOM) – The Helsinki Commission today officially announced the deletion of the Lithuanian municipality of Marijampole from the list of the Baltic Sea most significant pollution sources. The decision, which has now been approved by all the Baltic Sea coastal countries, followed the deletion of two other Lithuanian Hot Spots – the capital Vilnius and the municipality of Alytus by the Heads of Delegations of the HELCOM Member States at their regular 17th Meeting on 14-15 June in Helsinki, Finland. In recent years, all those cities have carried out vast modernisations of their wastewater treatment plants.

HELCOM has welcomed Lithuania’s progress in the reduction of pollution from several municipal wastewater treatment plants, and underlined that the wastewater treatment efficiency at the former Hot Spots now meets requirements of the relevant HELCOM Recommendations, and is also in compliance with the EU requirements. 

The recommendation to delete these Hot Spots from the list of the Baltic Sea major polluters was submitted by the HELCOM Land-based Pollution Group (HELCOM LAND) after considering Lithuania’s application during a regular meeting in May 2005. HELCOM experts in general also welcomed the reduction of pollution loads from the wastewater treatment plants in Lithuania’s third largest city of Klaipeda, but could not yet support the deletion of this Hot Spot, since the HELCOM requirement for phosphorus has been exceeded in the wastewater.

A list of the most significant pollution source Hot Spots around the Baltic Sea was first drawn up under the Baltic Sea Joint Comprehensive Environmental Action Programme (JCP) in 1992. As of today, 86 Hot Spots and sub-Hot Spots remain on the list of the Baltic Sea major polluters, following the deletion of 63 of the total 149 Hot Spots/sub-Hot Spots. Investment and remediation projects carried out at pollution Hot Spots around the Baltic Sea have contributed substantially towards overall pollution load reductions in the Baltic Sea catchment area.

Note to Editors:

The Helsinki Commission, or HELCOM, works to protect the marine environment of the Baltic Sea from all sources of pollution through intergovernmental co-operation between the countries bordering the sea - Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden, and also the European Community.  HELCOM is the governing body of the "Convention on the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Baltic Sea Area," more usually known as the Helsinki Convention.

Contacts

HELCOM Secretariat

Mr. Kaj Forsius
Professional Secretary
Tel: +358 9 62202221
Fax: +358 9 62202239

E-mail:  Kaj.forsius@helcom.fi

Mr. Nikolay Vlasov
Information Secretary
Tel: +358 9 62202235
Fax: +358 9 6220 2239

E-mail: nikolay.vlasov@helcom.fi