Since Friday, dead fish have been reported floating on the surface of the canal on the Quai de l’Industrie side in Anderlecht. Many of you report to us via the orange Alert us button.
Once the Environment cell was alerted, it notified the Harbor Master’s Office, which sent a boat to pick up the dead fish among many others still alive which seemed to have come to the surface to look for oxygen. The situation persisted on Saturday and Sunday. “The drought means that there has not been much renewal of the water, which in the canal comes from the rains”notes Sylvain Godfroid, spokesperson for the Port of Brussels.
Lowest oxygen level
“The heat is also in question, because the hotter the water, the lower its oxygen content, as paradoxically as the very intense rains of recent days which have occurred over a short period of time. In Brussels, when there is an overflow in the sewers – which happens during heavy storms – there is a system that discharges water into the canal to avoid overflows in the streets This brings a surplus of organic matter which further lowers the oxygen level in the water.
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This is the hypothesis of the Environment cell of the port of Brussels on the basis of the first observations, of the absence of visible traces of pollution and in the absence of analysis results. Sylvain Godfroid argues that the majority of fish moved to areas where there was more oxygen. This is a rather exceptional phenomenon, but it has already happened in the past. In general, as part of its mission to improve water quality, the port of Brussels says it is testing systems to re-oxygenate the canal.
Walter Derieuw, spokesperson for the Brussels fire brigade, explains that they are sometimes called upon to add water to ponds in order to create movement and bring oxygen.