The Health Commission of North East Iceland resolved yesterday that modern three-step sewage treatment facilities must be installed by lake Mývatn to treat sewage from the villages and hotels by the lake to avert an ecological disaster. If nothing is done to ensure the treatment of sewage from homes and businesses, including the rapidly growing tourism industry by the lake, drastic measures might have to be taken to reduce the number of visitors at the lake, the local newspaper Fréttablaðið reports.
Read more: Fishermen and landowners worried pollution is killing Mývatn lake and Laxá river
Growing bacteria blooms, fed by untreated sewage are threatening to kill all other life in the lake. Since the growth in sewage is primarily caused by the expanding tourism industry one option might be to close down hotels, the chairman of the commission told the Icelandic National Broadcasting Service RÚV.
Read more: Pollution of Mývatn to continue: Local municipal authorities cannot afford a sewage treatment plant
Jón Ingi Cæsarsson told RÚV that only one of the hotels by the lake has a modern three-step sewage treatment facilities, while none of the older hotels, nor the villages by the lake have adequate sewage treatment facilities, leading to excessive quantities of organic matter finding its way to the lake, feeding bacteria blooms: “If this situation becomes permanent we might have to resort to the legal options the Health Commission has by law, and this includes closing down businesses which fail to treat their sewage in the manner required by law.”
The Health Commission of North East Iceland resolved yesterday that modern three-step sewage treatment facilities must be installed by lake Mývatn to treat sewage from the villages and hotels by the lake to avert an ecological disaster. If nothing is done to ensure the treatment of sewage from homes and businesses, including the rapidly growing tourism industry by the lake, drastic measures might have to be taken to reduce the number of visitors at the lake, the local newspaper Fréttablaðið reports.
Read more: Fishermen and landowners worried pollution is killing Mývatn lake and Laxá river
Growing bacteria blooms, fed by untreated sewage are threatening to kill all other life in the lake. Since the growth in sewage is primarily caused by the expanding tourism industry one option might be to close down hotels, the chairman of the commission told the Icelandic National Broadcasting Service RÚV.
Read more: Pollution of Mývatn to continue: Local municipal authorities cannot afford a sewage treatment plant
Jón Ingi Cæsarsson told RÚV that only one of the hotels by the lake has a modern three-step sewage treatment facilities, while none of the older hotels, nor the villages by the lake have adequate sewage treatment facilities, leading to excessive quantities of organic matter finding its way to the lake, feeding bacteria blooms: “If this situation becomes permanent we might have to resort to the legal options the Health Commission has by law, and this includes closing down businesses which fail to treat their sewage in the manner required by law.”
