RIGA, Nov 30 (LETA) - Cleaning up the pollution that has leaked from Daugavpils Udens sewage sludge fields outside Latvia's southeastern city Daugavpils might cost an estimated EUR 120,000, Arvids Kucins (Daugavpils Regional Party), chairman of Augsdaugava Regional Council, said on Latvian Radio Tuesday. 

Kucins informed that Venteko company is cleaning up the polluted territory and that the cleanup works might cost between EUR 80,000 and EUR 120,000. 

In Kucins' words, cleaning up the sludge is only part of the problem. "The impact on ditches, small streams and nearby houses is still hard to estimate at the moment," the chairman of the regional council said. 

He projected that despite wintry weather conditions, the sewage sludge will be collected and removed from the polluted territory. The situation is being monitored and aerators have been installed in the Liksna River which also has been polluted in the accident. 

As reported, the dam of Daugavpils Udens sewage sludge fields collapsed because badgers had dug their setts in it, the company's board member Jelena Lapinska told LETA on Monday.

She said that badgers liked the territory and had dug their setts in the dam by the field, which caused the dam to collapse. The field is being constantly monitored.

It is difficult to access the collapsed dam because the territory is boggy.

Venteko company will collect the pollution and plans to put the necessary equipment into operation. The nearby rivers will be aerated to reduce the possible damage. The dam will also be repaired.

Lapinska said that this is an ecological disaster, the first of its kind in Daugavpils region or possibly the whole Latvia. She did not comment on the loss the company will sustain from it.

About 14,000 tons of sewage sludge have leaked into the Liksna River in eastern Latgale region, LETA was told at the State Environment Service.

On November 26, the State Environment Service received information about a critical situation in Krizi sewage sludge fields in Kasatniku, Naujene rural territory of Augsdaugava municipality. State Environment Service inspectors discovered that after a dam broke down, a large amount of sewage sludge leaked into the river.

It has been estimated that about 14,000 cubic meters of sludge have leaked into the environment. Most of the sludge leaked into the nearby boggy forest, still, the pollution has made its way along ditches and the rivers of Stropica and Liksna.

The sewage sledge can be used as fertilizer in agriculture, but, such large amounts of sludge leaking into the environment may harm it. The State Environment Service will calculate the loss to the environment and Daugavpils Udens will have to compensate it.