Łazy may be left without water in taps and sewage disposal
The seaside town of Łazy could be left without running water and sewage services starting August 19th. An eco-company from Mielno has announced it will cease supplying water and collecting sewage there. In this situation, the Sianów Commune Crisis Management Team wants to support Łazy with military and critical infrastructure.
Since 2023, by decision of the Council of Ministers, Łazy has been within the administrative boundaries of the Sianów commune. The border change sparked a dispute over the water and sewage infrastructure, which belongs to the Mielno commune's municipal company, EkoPrzedsiębiorstwo. The Sianów commune had been using the network without a water supply and sewage collection agreement. The temporary agreement expired in October 2024.
In a letter dated August 13th, addressed primarily to Maciej Berlicki, the mayor of the town and commune of Sianów, written by Wioletta Dymecka, the municipal company announced that as of August 19th, its water and sewage systems would cease supplying water and collecting sewage from the coastal town of Łazy. The company is suspending its operations there.
The company cited the lack of payment for invoices issued in 2025, despite reminders and pre-trial demands, totaling over PLN 660,000, with interest, as the main reason for its decision to cut off water supply and sewage collection. Invoices totaling over PLN 330,000, due on August 15th, are also pending payment. The invoices were addressed to the Sianów commune, but residents did not receive them.
According to President Dymecka, the Sianów commune is "inactive," taking "no action" to normalize the legal status quo—signing a contract for wholesale water supply and sewage collection, or leasing or purchasing the network and sewage pumping station located in the Łazy village. The company claims that the two-year agreement with the Sianów commune, temporarily sanctioning the unregulated situation, gave it sufficient time to take over the network. The agreement expired in October 2024. There is no new agreement.
"Under these circumstances, continuing to maintain water supplies and accept sewage into the treatment plant without payment from the Sianów commune creates a real threat to the company's operation," reads President Dymecka's letter. She emphasized that Ekoprzedsióstwo is a municipal company of the Mielno commune and that providing any services within the Sianów commune "cannot be detrimental to the Mielno commune or at its expense."
The president emphasized that the grid's operation could be restored "only after the Sianów commune takes over and begins performing its own tasks in this area." She added that the letter addressed to Mayor Berlicki is also a pre-trial demand for payment.
The mayor of the town and commune of Sianów responded by convening a crisis management team on Thursday morning.
"The team is requesting the convening of a provincial crisis management team, and at the same time, support for the town of Łazy with military and critical infrastructure if the water supply is cut off. I cannot imagine providing water in tankers to the several thousand people currently in Łazy," Mayor Berlicki said at a press conference about the team's findings.
He noted that the team decided to submit a letter to Wody Polskie "to resolve the dispute" and, in the meantime, "to order EkoPrzedsiębiorstwo to provide services." The prosecutor's office will receive a letter about the possibility of a crime being committed by the company, and the sanitary-epidemiological station will also be notified, "because cutting off the water threatens an ecological disaster."
The Sianów commune website has posted a sample letter that Łazy residents and businesses operating in the village should send to the Mielno-based company. It states that they should request an invoice for water and sewage services provided starting January 1, 2025, and pay an advance.
"Since January (after the agreement between the municipality and the company expired – PAP), residents and businesses haven't been paying for water because they haven't received invoices. We don't issue invoices because we don't have the network. Once we buy it, we'll issue invoices," Mayor Berlicki noted.
In his opinion, the invoices issued by the company to the municipality this year are "illegal," based on blackmail – "if you don't pay, we'll cut off the water." "I have no right to pay them, I have no legal basis, it's public finance discipline," the mayor of Sianów explained at a press conference.
He recalled that the unstable situation with water supply and sewage disposal in Łazy began in January 2023, when the Sianów commune took over the administrative control of the village from the Mielno commune. In subsequent years, the Mielno commune submitted applications to have Łazy reinstated within its boundaries.
"It would be difficult to purchase the network without knowing whether Łazy would remain within our administrative boundaries. Given this lack of stability, the company proposed to the municipality a lease and service in Łazy through our municipal utility in Sianów. We were willing to negotiate, but the monthly lease was supposed to be 30,000 złoty (excluding service costs – delivery and collection), while we offered 15,000 złoty. They refused. They supplied it, counting on the municipality to pay the invoices. But there was no agreement, no meter reading, nothing," said the mayor of Sianów.
He pointed out that the Sianów commune currently has a decision requiring the municipal utility to purchase the network, but that it has a three-month deadline, starting August 11th, to do so. The mayor believes this is time for talks, not for cutting off utilities.
The State Water Management Authority (Wody Polskie) informed the Polish Press Agency (PAP) that on April 29, 2024, during an administrative hearing at the Regional Water Management Authority (RZGW) in Szczecin, it had attempted to mediate with the parties to the dispute. However, there was no willingness to reach an agreement. Ultimately, in its rulings, the director of the Regional Water Management Authority in Szczecin designated the Sianów commune as the entity responsible for water supply and sewage collection in the town of Łazy. Following the decisions of Wody Polskie Łazy, the dispute ended up in court.
At the same time, Marek Synowiecki, acting head of the Communication and Water Education Team at the Regional Water Management Authority in Szczecin, assured on Thursday that Polish Waters, together with the West Pomeranian Voivode and his services, are taking the necessary actions to prevent a situation in which, from Tuesday, August 19, residents of the Łazy village would be deprived of water and the possibility of sewage disposal.
He announced that Wody Polskie would provide ongoing information on decisions taken to ensure residents have uninterrupted water supplies from the Łazy intake.
Less than 100 people live permanently in the seaside town of Łazy, but in the summer several thousand tourists and seasonal workers stay here at summer camps, holiday centers, guesthouses and lodgings.
Kurier Szczecinski
