WATERLY BUOYS MONITOR WIGRY LAKE

Waterly buoys have been floating in Lake Wigry since August 2023. The solar-powered devices transmit information about the quality, clarity, temperature, oxygenation of the water with a frequency of every 5 minutes.

Aleksandra Mackiewicz /Wigry National Park/ for TVP Białystok:
“Our idea is to investigate, to have additional information on how the Black Hancza River affects Lake Wigry.”

The Black Hancza River has been contaminated twice in recent years. In July 2018, more than 2,000 cubic meters of sewage flowed into the river after an accident at a sewage treatment plant in Suwałki. At the time, 300 kg of dead fish were fished out of the Black Hancza. The Waterly buoys will transmit information about the danger – so it will be possible to prevent an environmental disaster at a very early stage.

Lech Krzysztofiak / Wigry National Park/ for Radio Białystok:
“Waterly provides measurements of the lake surface, that is, a layer of up to half a meter. The location of these buoys is not accidental. They are located at the entrance and exit of the river. Then we will know how the waters of the Black Hancza are modified by these water masses of Lake Wigry. What influences and to what extent all these compounds flow out of the lake. We will find out if Wigry is such a settling tank for all the pollutants that flow down the Black Hancza.”