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To breathe fresh air
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Brodnica was founded in the early
Middle Ages near a ford in the river Drwęca. The
river, one of the cleanest in Poland, still plays
a significant role in the life of the town. The
Drwęca river is the biggest fish reserve set up
for the protection of salmonids. The swampy lower
course of the river, including the river valley
in the north-east of Brodnica, has been registered
on the List of Polish Wildfowl Refuges. Furthermore,
there are over 100 lakes in the region, which
makes it a sailor's dream.
In order not to squander its assets - nature,
landscapes and tourism - the town of Brodnica
has been carrying out pro-environmental policies
on the basis of a environmentally-friendly development
strategy for many years now. The above policies
have been effective, and the town was the only
municipality in Poland to be awarded in 2000 the
right to use the promotional title "The green
lungs of Poland". In 2003, the office that awarded
the title carried out an audit and authorized
the town to use the above-mentioned slogan for
another three years. Furthermore, this year Brodnica
was awarded the title "environmentally-friendly
municipality." It was not difficult to justify
this decision:
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Fragment rzeki Drwęcy i rezerwat ichtiologiczny/
A fragment of the Drwęca River and an ichthyologic
reserve
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Brodnica is one of the few towns in Poland
that is almost entirely provided with sewerage
and water supply systems. The town also has wastewater
treatment plants and a sludge composting plant
(100% of the sludge formed in the waste water
plant in Brodnica is processed and converted into
compost used in farming) and waste management
is integrated with wastewater management. Wastewater
treatment plants and the landfill and waste sorting
site are adjacent to one another, which enables
transport of leachate from the landfill directly
to the wastewater plant, where it is completely
neutralized. A system for monitoring underground
waters has additionally been implemented.
Since the municipal waste landfill was built in
1997, selective waste sorting has been carried
out in the town. Sorted waste is transported to
the Municipal Secondary Waste Sorting Site adjacent
to the Landfill. The municipality puts emphasis
on eliminating illegal waste dumps. As a result
of the action taken by the town's services and
pupils from the schools of Brodnica in 2000, the
biggest illegal dump located near the Parish Cemetery
was removed. Approximately 320 tons of waste was
disposed of and the area was cleaned.
In order to prevent air pollution in the town,
local sources of pollution are gradually being
modernized, mostly by replacing coal with oil
for heating and by using biomass energy (wooden
waste, sawdust). Additionally, the town's authorities
have taken steps to connect the town to the gas
main. The town of Brodnica was the main initiator
of the Association of the Municipalities of Northern
Mazowsze (one of the regions in Poland). One of
the major goals of the association was the construction
of the town's technical infrastructure, including
a high-pressure gas pipeline. Furthermore, actions
are being taken to reduce the loss of heat in
heated buildings, mostly by means of thermal renovation
(thermal insulation of buildings) and installation
of thermal valves. In 2002, a project was initiated
to change the traffic organization in the town
is yet another step aimed at the reduction of
emission of pollutants into the air.
However, these actions will all prove useless
if the inhabitants themselves are not interested
in environmental protection. Therefore, a program
of environmental education was developed. The
program is introduced during nature/environment
classes in schools and during the Clean up the
World campaign. Additional actions include the
organization of green schools, presentations on
Earth Days, Drwęca Days, and trips to Landscape
Parks, the landfills, the wastewater treatment
plant, etc. EKO-ART workshops are also very popular.
Brodnica may be one of the undisputed candidates
for another prize in the next edition in the "Environmentally-friendly"
competition.
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