Adverse Influence of Legal Surroundings of the Historical Relics of the Underground Works in the Area of Lower Silesia on Removal of the Environmental Risks Related to Them

The cluster of the historical underground workings from the times of World War 2 is located in the area of the town of Bolków, in the Ryszard Hill massif (363 m a.s.l.), which is the highest rise in the area of the town. The hill is located about 500 m to the North-East from the historical centre of the town of Bolków and occupies an area of 19 hectares. It is a forested area of recreational character (in the 19^th century it used to be a town park) [Nowicki 2016; Madziarz et al. 2017]. As it results from the preserved documents and relics of the former earth and mining works, in years 1943–1944 in the Ryszard Hill massif there were carried on works objected to start industrial production (ordnance) in the vast system of underground workings tunnelled for this purpose. The designed underground manufacturing plant had a code name “Lehm” (Clay) [Nowicki 2016; Madziarz et al. 2017]. Starting up of airplane element production in the underground workings in Bolków is confirmed by the information coming from the documents located in the Gross-Rosen Museum Archive [Nowicki 2016]. The exceptional character of the historical underground complex in Bolków was demonstrated by the fact of cutting off the access to unfinished underground sections, probably already during the duration of the World War 2 campaigns (1944). As distinct from a number of other similar unfinished underground structures known in the area of Lower Silesia, the historical working in Bolków remained in the condition in which the works were stopped for a half of the century.

The first known attempt of penetration of the underground, although having no formal grounds, took place in the nineties of the 20^th century, in relation to the search for the presumed valuable deposits [Nowicki 2016; Madziarz et al. 2017]. Then in years 2004–2009, the Towarzystwo Eksploracyjne Poszukiwań Zaginionych Zabytków ‘Talpa’ (Lost Historical Monument Exploration Search Society) (an absurd formation from the point of view of the law in force) conducted amateur works objected to reopen the access to the underground workings (executed on the plot No. 288/20 rented from the Municipality of Bolków, in the following periods: 24.06.2004–01.07.2007, 10.07.2007–30.06.2008 and 29.09.2008–30.09.2009). At present the legal basis of these works is not known, both in respect to the undertaken search, earth works, and especially mining—also including works with the use of high explosives (!)—the remains of which were identified during the studies in 2021.

What is especially significant, at that time there were containers discovered including most probably petroleum-derived substances—however, taking samples of the content of the containers (steel drums) was not documented, nor was testing with the objective of identifying the substance contained in them. The hypothesis concerning the presence of the petroleum-derived substance contained in the containers is confirmed, however, by the photographs taken during the exploration, which present the markings of the German company DEROP (a contemporary distributor of petroleum products), on the containers photographed underground [Nowicki 2016; Madziarz 2017]. The contemporary, most probably not quite legal, exploration of the Ryszard Hill underground in Bolków was finished with (also illegal) reclosing of the access to the workings by the Society. It should be emphasized that upon concluding the works the renter (TEPZZ ‘Talpa’) did not submit to the Municipality of Bolków any documentation of the workings rendered available and their content.

In the course of the works performed at that time (in 2008 in the described workings) a vision of the scene was performed, participated in by the members of the Municipality of Bolków, TEPZZ ‘Talpa’ and the RAM Radio Station in Wrocław. As a result, alarming releases appeared in the mass media concerning the potential hazards for the environment from accumulation underground of harmful substances (Figure 1).

Figure 1

The information received during the presentation of this vision of the scene constituted the premise, based on the supposition that a real risk of deterioration of the ground–water environmental conditions existed as the result of release of the petroleum-derived substances from the rusty drums (or drums crushed by falling rocks), that is, the historical containers gathered underground.

Each uncontrolled spillage of a petroleum-derived substance creates a substantial interference in the soil–water environment, because it inhibits gas exchange, limits light access, reduces the amount of dissolved oxygen, degrades ground and surface waters, pollutes soil and ground, disturbs the homeostasis, and mainly exerts toxic, mutagenic, and carcinogenic impact on all the organisms [Korzeniowska-Rejmer, Izdebska-Mucha 2006]. The presence of the petroleum-derived substances in ground waters in large concentrations is a source of serious pollution and constitutes a direct risk for live organisms inhabiting the polluted area. The toxicity of these substances results both from their physical as well as chemical properties. The toxicity of hydrocarbons, which results from chemical properties, is reflected in their reaction in higher organisms, including the human being. The presence of hydrocarbons in water causes changes of its features at low concentrations of about 0.001 g/m³. Pollution with these components is hazardous to biological life due to formation of the surface and emulsified strata cutting off access to atmospheric oxygen and also sedimentation of heavier fractions, insoluble in water as well as toxic reactions of the dissolved compounds [Gałązka 2015].

For this reason, the authorities of the Municipality of Bolków took actions targeted to eradicate or diminish hazards resulting from accumulation in the historical workings of substances potentially hazardous for the environment. The Research-Development Centre of the Foundation for the ‘Lower Silesia Raw Material Cluster’ in Wrocław at the KGHM CUPRUM Sp. z o.o. (Co. Ltd) was asked to develop a feasibility study for the cleaning and securing of the historical complex of underground workings under Ryszard Hill in Bolków.

Due to a complete lack of access to the complex in the Ryszard Hill massif in Bolków at that time, the feasibility study considering the issues directly concerning the underground complex, i.e. its range, state of preservation, stability of the workings, hazards present there, and most of all the substances deposited there, which constitute the risk for the environment (as well as the other hypothetical remnants of the former production operations, warfare operations, or operations of another type), was developed only on the basis of the preserved archival documentation of structure construction and fragmentary information related to the works of the TEPZZ ‘Talpa’ [Nowicki 2016; Madziarz et al. 2017]. It was assumed that the complex of the workings was constructed according to the original design, which was the base for determining the scope of works and their costs with the objective of rendering the underground working available again and the temporary securing of the underground workings during removal of the wastes.

The study estimated possible kinds and amounts of wastes deposited in the working being its subject [Madziarz 2017]. It was stated that they were chiefly the petroleum-derived substances (lubricants), deposited there in metal containers (steel drums). Due to the fact that cleaning of the object would also be related to the cleaning processes for underground waters and saturated rock materials, in the balance of the wastes deposited in the workings, the slurries containing hazardous substances, rock material, and destroyed structure elements constituting various kinds of waste construction materials were also included. The waste characteristics presented in Table 1 (containing Figures 2–6) were determined on the basis of the results of the view of the scene documented with photographs (Figures 2–6), including the factory markings of the containers (steel drums) lying in the workings, the results of underground water appearance analysis, the quality of the rock material, and the foreseen kinds of pollution that can get to the underground waters from the damaged drums containing petroleum-derived substances.

It was estimated that the cleaning of the historical workings under Ryszard Hill in Bolków would require removing 1,628 Mg of hazardous wastes and about 5,000 Mg of other than hazardous wastes, which included first of all waste oils and lubricants as well as polluted rock material. The cost of execution of the works would be at that time (2017) 28,679 thousand zł. [Madziarz 2017]. Besides the substantial financial expense, a significant obstacle for undertaking the work necessary to eliminate the hazards for the environmental condition proved to be unclear legal issues surrounding of the objective—typical for numerous historical work sites and underground objects in the area of lower Silesia [Madziarz. et al. 2013].

The way to handle the historical pollution of ground surface, the occurrence of which in the case described was testified to by the information and photographs included in the fractional documentation concerning exploration of the work site performed by the TEPZZ ‘Talpa‘, is determined by the regulations of an act dated 27 April 2001 of the Environment Protection Law (i.e. Journal of Law of 2021.1973). Following the obligation imposed by article 101d, paragraph 9 of the indicated act, the Starost of Jaworze, on the basis of information concerning deposition in the work sites in the Ryszard Hill massif in Bolków of unknown substances (probably petroleum-derived) submitted to the reginal Director of Environmental Protection in Wrocław in 2016, a list of potential historical pollutants of the ground surface from the area of the Jaworze Poviat. The list comprised the plots covering Ryszard Hill in Bolków and the neighbouring properties. In the case discussed, the sources of the historical pollutants were located in the underground work sites, not on the surface of the ground. Considering the above, the RDOŚ in Wrocław discontinued the proceedings, representing that the rock mass cannot be considered the surface of ground

In compliance with the statutable definition the surface of the land should be understood as the landscape, soil, earth, and ground waters, when the soil means the upper layer of the lithosphere, comprising the surface soil layer and subsoil and the earth – the upper layer of the lithosphere, located below the soil, to the depth of human actions.

The situation described is an example of a significant gap in legislation, the existence of which constitutes a substantial obstacle in undertaking actions targeted to diminish or eradicate the risk of pollution of the soil-water environment with hazardous substances deposited in underground historical objects with an unclear legal status.

The assumptions accepted in the study [Madziarz et al. 2017] could be verified only after rendering accessible the cluster of the historical underground mine workings, which required a large scale of earth and mining works. In 2021 the municipality of Bolków, in cooperation with the KGHM CUPRUM Sp. z o.o. CBR, and on the basis of decision no. 249/2021 ‘Permit to search for historic monuments’ (due to the historical character of the underground structure) issued by the Lower Silesia Voivodship Heritage Conservator in Wrocław, Legnica Delegacy in Legnica, commenced work targeted at surveying the actual state, extent and, most importantly, the content of the workings in the Ryszard Hill massif in Bolków. The principal objective of the work undertaken was verification of fractional and unclear information concerning underground deposition of metal containers with unspecified content. In case their storage underground was confirmed, it was planned to first collect samples in order to determine the kind and properties of these substances. Determination of the kind and volume of the substances was intended to provide the basis to verify the scope and the estimated costs of the work objective of eradicating a potential risk for the environment. The location for starting the work of reopening the historical workings was the former drift no. 1 excavation (Figure 7) located on plot no. 257/29 of survey section Bolków, where the work had already been undertaken in the 1990s. Temporary storage of earth and rock mass from the cleaned drift excavation was possible in its immediate neighbourhood. Due to the relationship of the surveyed structure and the area with ordnance production and its creation in the times of World War 2, it was necessary to carry on the earth works under the supervision of sappers.

Figure 7

During the clean-up works (performed on the basis of a construction design), some of the remains of previous, post-war surveying were found in the form of steel support lining, fire hoses—with which water was pumped out of the workings directly to surface watercourses without any analysis (!)—temporary lighting installation, but mainly the relics of the temporary lining of the drift, which were executed in a very unprofessional way, thus endangering safety. Apart from these remnants of works form the 1990s, in the cleaned excavation of the historical drift, one container of those documented during the previous penetrations of the object was found—a drum, though an empty one, turned out to be the only one preserved in the working relic of the historical works from the World War 2! During the earth works, it was discovered that the drift connecting the basic section of the underground complex with the surface was deliberately encumbered, probably in the final period of World War 2. The access to the perfectly preserved, so-called ‘production drifts’ located deep inside the rock massif, though very risky, proved to be possible using only the speleological techniques. Contrary to the expectations, no metal containers or any other relics of the works or equipment form the times of construction of the underground complex documented in the photographs taken during the works performed by the TEPZZ ‘Talpa’, and the visual inspection of the scene at that time with the participation of the media was found. Currently, the only confirmation of the presence of the petroleum-derived substances in the workings reopened for access is a distinct smell similar to fumes of diesel oil, especially apparent in the neighbourhood of drift No. 2 (reconstructed and then liquidated by the ‘Talpa’ Society). The large panache of the illegal mining works performed during the previous works was a big surprise. It raises the number of questions concerning legality and safety of the previously executed surveying works performed in this place.

Figure 8