Lovochemie said to be biggest polluter of Elbe

Fertilizer producer Lovochemie is reported to have been the biggest polluter of the river Elbe in 2009, the environmental group Arnika told the CTK news agency on Friday. According to the group’s report over 18,000 tons of dangerous substances were released into the Elbe and its tributaries, the Ohře, Bilina and Vltava rivers. Zinc formed half of the emissions, with Lovochemie being responsible for most of it. Arnika said that toxic substances that were discharged from Czech plants twenty years ago now present a big problem in neighbouring Germany. The Hamburg port administration is reportedly spending 70 million euros a year on the elimination of dangerous waste from the riverbed.