The plan for the
creation of a welfare state in Lithuania:
1. Destroy outdoor toilets.
2. Destroy asbestos roofs.
3. Make billions of artillery shells.
4. Fly to the Moon, away from all this
nonsense.
"In Lithuania,
outdoor toilets are still used not only by the residents of homesteads, garden
associations or single-yard households, but also by the people living in the
center of the capital. Unpleasant smell or their maintenance are not the only
problems of outdoor booths - they pollute groundwater and the environment, and
are harmful to health.
The goal of the
European Union, which is also pursued by Lithuania, is that more than 2
thousand in populated settlements, wastewater would be managed centrally. The
goal, according to experts, has almost been achieved, and outdoor toilets are
gradually being replaced by more environmentally friendly alternatives.
It will be controlled
more strictly
In homesteads or
houses where there are no water and sewage treatment systems, residents still
pour sewage into leaky, often farm-style pits, which become breeding grounds
for bacteria, and more and more household chemical residues are found in the
sewage: various cleaners, detergents, disinfectants. Chemical substances
released into the environment contaminate the soil and groundwater. Leaky pits
pollute groundwater and the wells fed by it, pose a risk of contaminating
groundwater, which is the main source of drinking water in Lithuania, the press
release states.
There are still
cases when wastewater is illegally discharged into the environment: some of
those who do so justify that they do not have the funds to handle the
wastewater in accordance with the requirements. Some simply don't want to invest,
or their homes don't have access to centralized wastewater treatment networks,
so they choose environmentally unfriendly methods.
As Kastytis
Gedminas, advisor of the Pollution Prevention Policy Group of the Ministry of
the Environment, commented, the main goal of the Wastewater Management
Information System (NTIS) created by the Ministry of the Environment, which
started operating on January 1, is to ensure that untreated sewage does not
enter the environment.
"By using
the data collected by this system, individual wastewater management systems
will be controlled more efficiently. Environmentalists will be able to rely on
the accumulated information, and responsible companies will also be able to see
risky places in the information system and take preventive measures in time to
control potential sources of pollution. It will be easier to prevent cases
where illegal sewage transporters or private individuals discharge sewage in
non-designated areas or into a nearby water body. There will also be an
opportunity to control whether wastewater is properly cleaned in the
facilities", explained K. Gedminas.
From now on,
owners of individual houses who have installed biological treatment and septic
tank types of individual wastewater treatment facilities should not forget to
conduct an examination of the wastewater released into the environment once a
year, which will confirm whether the purified water released into the
environment meets the standards and does not pollute the environment.
The solution in
the homestead and on the construction site
Diana Lubė,
director of the territory maintenance business of the environmental management
company "Ecoservice", reminds that if there is no possibility of
centralized sewage treatment or the installation of local sewage treatment
plants, it is too expensive, and there is a far more environmentally friendly
alternative than polluting outdoor booths - bio-toilets, suitable for use in
summer houses, country houses or gardens. in communities where people go on
vacation or rest on weekends.
During the
construction or repair of a residential building, there are usually no
amenities in the building temporarily, so residents performing construction or
repair work can also choose an environmentally and health-friendly solution
during this period - bio-toilets.
"People's
awareness is growing, they are interested in and choose more environmentally
friendly alternatives, and untidy outdoor booths or sewage-polluted
environments are no longer tolerated," said D. Lubė.
A bio-toilet
corresponds to the concept of a movable object and is not a building,
therefore, when building it on a small plot or in densely populated areas, the
distance to the boundary of the plot is not regulated, it is not necessary to
observe protection zones from sources of drinking water and wells.
If necessary,
along with the bio-toilet, you can additionally use cubic water containers, and
in the warm season, outdoor sinks. Depending on the needs of the residents, but
not less often than every four weeks, bio-toilets are cleaned with high-pressure
equipment and special chemical means, residents do not need to take care of the
maintenance of the bio-toilet themselves.
Lithuania
implemented the EU requirements
One of the most
important measures aimed at protecting the environment from the harmful effects
of discharged wastewater is the European Union Urban Wastewater Treatment
Directive. It provides that at least 98 percent wastewater generated in
settlements with more than 2,000 inhabitants would be collected by centralized
wastewater collection systems.
In 2017, the
European Commission informed Lithuania, that in 58 settlements too few
households were connected to the centralized sewage system, but in the last few
years the requirement of the directive was implemented in 48 settlements.
Currently, the requirements of this directive no longer apply to Kybartai,
Eišiškės, Ariogala and Šeduva, because they have less than 2 thousand
inhabitants. people.
Out of the
remaining 6 settlements, in four - Nemenčinė, Pabradė, Švenčionės and
Švenčionėliai - the development projects of centralized sewage collection
systems are currently completed - until the end of 2024, residents' housing is
planned to be connected to them.
Ensures
centralized sewage supply
Whether it will
be possible to manage sewage centrally depends not only on the wishes of the
residents. Some of the capital's residents faced a situation where, after the
construction of several dozen individual houses, there were challenges in
connecting them to the sewage management infrastructure, as a sewage pumping
station is needed, costing approximately 150,000 euros. How do you solve
similar problems?
K. Gedminas,
advisor of the Pollution Prevention Policy Group of the Ministry of the
Environment, commented that it is the responsibility of municipalities to
ensure the availability of drinking water supply and wastewater services to
residents, while the responsibility of the public drinking water supplier and
wastewater manager is to ensure the development of infrastructure and the
connection of consumer devices to the drinking water supply and wastewater
management networks."
