In the fall of 2020, the river Bečva in the Zlín District was severely contaminated by toxic substances. The leak caused 40 tons of fish and all kinds of organisms kilometres down the river to die. At first, the incident was investigated by the Czech Environmental Inspectorate. In the spring of 2021, the Chamber of Deputies assembled an investigative commission for the ecological accident on the Bečva river. The scientific experts, who have been analysing the river for some time, have now alerted the commission that it is practically impossible to determine who is responsible for the leak. Despite the fact that over a hundred samples were taken from the river on the day of the incident, it is impossible to identify who is behind the poisoning of the river, because none of the samples were recovered near the industrial areas. The Environmental Inspectorate is to be blamed for the mishap, says a toxicologist from the Masaryk University. The inspectorate recovered samples from the industry drains on Bečva days later, when the toxins could have already been gone or diluted. They also underestimated the importance of the laboratory work after the incident. Since they did not analyse the polluted water instantly, it was of no use to the police investigation. Therefore, there isn’t any direct proof and the initiator of the Bečva contamination will presumably stay unknown.
