GB No. 5-6, summer-fall 1991

THE SANITARY STATE OF ZAKOPANE
AND THE TATRA TERRITORIAL DIVISION

There are two European capitals without purification plants: Tirana and Warsaw. In the Polish scale Poland has only one winter capital - Zakopane, which is a town of unique health resort and touristic value. There are several thousand permanent inhabitants and about 4 million tourists per year. It is the only such place in Poland and has complications peculiar to it connected with communication, transport, the building trade, servicing, hospitals, environmental protection, etc.

The current state of the environment in Zakopane and the Tatra region is considered to be veering towards ruin. Already, irreversible damage has been made, which influences an area far beyond the border of the town and its area. The damage is caused by:

• the shortage of water and of emergency water sources (fecal bacteria were found in 80% of the wells!);
• the continual contamination of soil by sewage, and the general shortage of proper sewage treatment. There are 3,066 buildings connected to the water mains, but yet only 1,125 use the sewage system;
• unorganized dumping: ZOM disposes of 103,000 cubic meters of litter per year, and daily unsegregated sweepings are removed from several thousand containers;
• air pollution: Zakopane is not classified as a special protection area. The level of sulphur dioxide (SO2) is double the standard for protected areas and ten times that of areas of particular protection. The concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the town center is periodically five times higher than the standard.

Each single or complex flaw influences the sanitary conditions of the population and raises the risk to health. The increase of food poisoning is observable in all of Poland. In Zakopane there have been 227 detected cases (2,5%) of intestinal SS-bacteria (Salmonella, Shigella). This coefficient is increasing: from 4 cases in 1984 to 64 cases in 1985. In 1986 there was a poisoning in a renowned hotel (among guests as well as the staff). This event caused several millions zlotys in damage, because the reason needed to be investigated.

Destroying the environment and increasing the contamination of the air, soil and water means that we must tighten sanitary controls. As of the end of September 1986 there had been about 5,000 such controls, with 250 fines imposed totalling over 250 000 zl. These fines are too low to change anything.

To avoid deplorable epidemic results in the near future, it is necessary to not only reliably coordinate all services and institutions responsible for environmental protection and sanitary education, but to take on the capital expenditure first of all.

(Summary of the pronouncement at the MRN session - Sept. 1986)

ZB 11/90
translation: Aleksandra Krasowska