Until the end of April this year, the Liepaja SEZ Authority plans to announce a procurement for the rehabilitation works in the Karosta Canal to clean it from historical pollution, and continues to implement the project “CLEAN-UP of the Karosta Canal in the Historically Contaminated Site of the Liepaja Port. Phase II” with the aim of reducing the negative impact of the historically polluted sediments of the Karosta Canal on the environment, human health and the ecological condition of the Baltic Sea.

For many years, Karosta was the base of the USSR Baltic Navy with ships and submarines, and as a result of naval activities, both untreated wastewater and various oil products and heavy metals, such as mercury, lead and others, entered the Canal. As a result, the Karosta Canal became one of the most polluted sites in Latvia.

During the 1 st phase of the Karosta Canal remediation project, large-scale pollution of approximately 50,000 m3 was removed from the water. Now - in the 2 nd round it is planned to deplete the sediments polluted with oil products and heavy metals in the amount of approximately 200,000 m3, cleaning the area of ​​36 ha. After conducting several studies, the Liepaja SEZ Authority has concluded that the layer of contaminated sediments in the Karosta Canal at some places exceeds one and a half meters.

To achieve the goal of the project, within the framework of rehabilitation works, it is planned to remove 202,247 m3 of non-compliant sediments containing 400 tons of hazardous chemicals. The project is funded by the Norwegian Financial Mechanism, the Program for Climate Change Mitigation, Adaptation and Environment, 2014-2021. The total cost of the project is EUR 5,117,647.05, of which EUR 4,350,000.00 is funded by the Norwegian Financial Mechanism.