Poland
Poland has a significant role in the protection of the Baltic Sea, as nearly half of the 85 million inhabitants of the catchment area of the Baltic Sea live in Poland. This is why the John Nurminen Foundation and the Swedish Baltic Sea 2020 (http://www.balticsea2020.org/index.php?lang=en) Foundation initiated a joint project in May 2008 to improve and speed up phosphorus removal in selected Polish cities.
From the perspective of the Baltic Sea, the situation at the Polish wastewater treatment plants is changing significantly, since modernisation subsidised by EU structural funds has been implemented or is being implemented at many of the plants. A letter of intent has been signed with the city of Warsaw to intensify removal of phosphorous. Once the renovation and expansion work at the city’s largest plant, Czajka, is completed in 2010, a survey will be conducted into the opportunities to make the removal of phosphorous more effective.
Two Polish cities, Szeczin and Gdansk, are participating in the John Nurminen Foundation's EU project (PURE). In these cities, phosphorus removal is being improved through enhancements to the removal process.
“When it comes to environment, we Finns together with the neighbouring countries feel and share a special concern and a strong sense of responsibility about the future of the Baltic Sea. For my own part, I will do my very best to progress international co-operation to protect the Baltic Sea.”
