Grafarlækur oil pollution: „A difficult and sad case“
mbl.is/Ófeigur Lýðsson
Oil pollution in Grafarlækur stream in Grafarvogur is a very serious event says Snorri Sigurðsson of Reykjavík’s Nature and Garden Office. The office is now working alongside the Health Department, Fire Department and Veitur Utilities on resolving the issue.
“This is a valuable area of nature,” Snorri says. “We have tried to use those options available to us but this is a difficult and sad case.”
The origin of the pollution is unclear but Snorri says that a big spill must have happened, possibly more than once but that investigators now believe it was one big event.
The Fire Department uses these sausage like devices to soak up the oil. mbl.is/Ófeigur Lýðsson
A lot of oil has been found in the greenery around the stream due to much rain that increased the water levels and pushed the oil up its banks and down to the beach. The Fire Department has now placed special devices in the stream that are meant to soak up the oil and thereby contain further contamination.
Snorri is most worried about the beach, the area most sensitive to such pollution due to birdlife. Since so much oil spilled into the greenery, he says, the pollution may remain a problem for a while.
