ecological disaster
Michael Dudek saidSulzer Pumps Wastewater Poland was engaged in the treatment and transportation of sewage in many cities of Poland. However, at the end of April, the Polish Ministry of Internal Affairs effectively banned the activities of 35 firms that Warsaw suspected of having links with Russian capital. Sulzer Pumps Wastewater Poland also fell under these restrictions because the company was associated with Russian entrepreneur Viktor Vekselberg.
According to a company representative, “an environmental disaster is in the air” due to anti-Russian sanctions. The organization previously served treatment plants including the cities of Zamosc, Rzeszow, Kielce, Lublin, Krakow, Goleniow and Wladyslawowo. His pumps were even used by the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum in Auschwitz. But now, in case of equipment failure, the company will not be able to replace it, due to the cessation of the supply of spare parts.
Dudek said, “This is a real threat to people’s health and life. We cannot provide service and spare parts, whether the device is guaranteed or not.”
He also noted that many devices have been operating for more than a dozen years, so any one of them can fail at any time.
Waste water instead of drinking water
Sulzer Pumps Wastewater Poland installed and maintained not only pumps, mixers, aeration systems, blowers and instrumentation, but also drinking water treatment equipment. According to the publication, at least several hundred local authorities and other organizations in Poland use these Sulzer devices.
According to Dudek, the equipment in Władysławowo is already 17 years old, in Lębork 19 years old and 21 at the Dembe wastewater treatment plant near Warsaw. Over the past 25 years, the company has equipped dozens of medium and large wastewater treatment plants with blowers that supply air for bacteria.
But the failure of the blowers means that the sewage treatment plant will stop working and will soon lead to pollution of the rivers and, in a few days, the Baltic Sea.
“A blower malfunction stops the air supply to the wastewater and kills the bacteria responsible for wastewater treatment. The untreated wastewater is then discharged into a river, lake or sea,” Dudek explained.
Usually, service engineers are called in in case of failure of this equipment, but no one can come from Sulzer anymore – company employees risk losing their jobs due to asset freeze.
“We can’t do that in the event of a breakdown and when we’re willing to help. Fuel cards are blocked, cars are taken by a rental company, and phones are about to hang up due to unpaid bills. This means that orders, deliveries and service support are not fulfilled,” the company representative emphasized.
Threat to health and life
The company’s Warsaw branch has for many years provided important devices for drainage pumping stations that empty roads and tunnels. Sulzer pumps are also installed on sections of the Southern Ring Road close to Warsaw’s Ursynow metropolitan area. On this road is Poland’s longest tunnel.
“The lack of drainage in the tunnel due to failure of the pumps will cause 100% people to drown. “This is no longer a roadblock. This is a real threat to people’s health and lives,” said a Sulzer spokesperson.
Sulzer pumps are also installed on most sections of the S8 highway connecting Warsaw and Bialystok. According to Dudek, it may even need to be closed if the route is not cleared. He noted that the same problem affected many Polish roads and tunnels.
“The device has the right to break”
The company also supplies industrial pumps to factories such as KGHM (copper and silver producer), ZGH Bolesław in Bukovno (zinc producer), Police (chemical synthesis company) and Grupa Azoty Zakłady Chemiczne “Polis” in Mondi (pulp and paper company) he did. . industry). Some sugar mills are also equipped with Sulzer equipment.
“Pump failures will shut down lines and cause millions of losses. This is a serious matter. We believe in the quality of our devices, but blowers are a few years old. They have hundreds of thousands of hours of work. Unfortunately, such a device has the right to fail,” he said.
He added that the company has sent letters to client businesses explaining the current situation. A Sulzer representative emphasized that the company’s products are not sanctioned in any other country.
Several dozen Sulzer employees from Warsaw and Lublin held a protest in front of the Ministry of the Interior in Warsaw last Friday, Onet.pl reported. They demanded that their company be removed from the sanctions list immediately and that jobs be protected. But no one came to them.