Šumava National Park prepares major cleanup of contaminated military site

The Czech Ministry of the Environment is preparing a major remediation project for the former Dobrá Voda military site located within Šumava National Park. The planned cleanup is estimated to cost nearly 192 million CZK.

This upcoming operation follows several years of investigations and partial cleanups conducted between 2020 and 2023. The initial response was triggered in autumn 2020 when the ceiling of an underground bunker collapsed, revealing approximately 20 heavily rusted metal drums containing damp material and a glass container of concentrated chromic acid. While laboratory tests identified various decontamination substances such as calcium hydroxide and chlorinated lime, they did not confirm the presence of chemical warfare agents like mustard gas or phosgene, despite the discovery of ampoules labeled as such.

Subsequent geophysical surveys in 2023 identified further underground pits and buried waste. During remediation efforts in the summer of 2023, specialists removed 48.5 tons of contaminated soil and 2.4 tons of containers and other objects from a specific area. The scale of the total contamination is estimated to include approximately 1,000 tons of contaminated soil and 200 drums of hazardous chemicals.