THE ODER RIVER
DIVIDED BY A WALL
In the summer of 2022, the Oder River lost between 200 and 400 tons of fish. The cause was golden algae. The deeper cause was 130 years of engineering.
READ THE STORY
THE RIVER WAS ALREADY A MACHINE
The Oder is one of the wildest rivers in Germany and one of the most regulated in Poland. On the Polish side, 28 weirs, 43 locks and 29 barrages divide the river into sections. These structures were built over 130 years to serve navigation, flood control, and industrial water supply.
When a toxic bloom of Prymnesium parvum - golden algae - appeared in July 2022, the river had no biological resilience left to survive it. High salinity, trapped water, shallow depths: the infrastructure had created the exact conditions the algae needed to kill.
This investigation maps both the disaster and the system that made it possible. Drone footage shot at 15 locations. A complete catalogue of 66 hydraulic structures. A day-by-day timeline of the collapse.
"The fish didn't just die because of a toxic algae bloom. They died because the river was already a machine."— Jakub Górnicki
42 DAYS
The official story began on July 26, when dead fish were first publicly reported near the Lipki weir. The actual story began three weeks earlier.
Dead fish reported in Oława. Anglers say the die-off had been drifting from Silesia for three days.
Firefighters remove over three tons of dead fish from Krosno Odrzańskie. The Prime Minister dismisses the Chief Inspector of Environmental Protection.
Polish and German researchers confirm Prymnesium parvum - golden algae - as the cause. The government had known for two weeks.
66 STRUCTURES. ONE RIVER. ONE CATASTROPHE.
THE MAP YOU CAN
MOVE THROUGH
The story was built as an interactive piece - a scrollable map of the entire Oder River waterway, with each of the 66 structures clickable. Drone footage, archival images, and disaster timeline entries are embedded at their precise geographic location on the river.
The piece works in both Polish and English. The Polish version includes the full interactive map. The English version documents the same investigation in longform.
"The Oder is one of the wildest rivers in Germany and one of the most regulated rivers in Poland. That contradiction did not begin in 2022. It was built, lock by lock, across 130 years."— Jakub Górnicki