On 19 October 2026 the army stated on the social network X that it had completed the initial survey of the contaminated area in Šumava and was building an access road along which people and equipment are to reach the affected territory safely. According to its statement, it is also working on fencing the site. Until then the area had been marked off only by police tape, guarded by soldiers and police officers.[1][2]

The site lies in the former Dobrá Voda military training area in the Klatovy area. According to earlier data from the Ministry of the Environment, there are roughly 1,000 tonnes of contaminated soil and 200 barrels of hazardous chemicals. The ministry originally worked with the possibility that they were chemical warfare agents, but the survey so far has found none. A hydrogeological survey from 2021 described contamination of groundwater as unlikely. Whether it has occurred since then can, according to the ministry, be established only after the chemicals are removed.[1][2]

The army began the engineering and chemical survey in mid-September 2026 with two dozen soldiers and special equipment. Prime Minister Andrej Babiš (ANO) later said that the army would secure the isolation of the site so that the substances do not spread into the soil.[2]

The mayor of Hartmanice, Pavel Valdman (SNK Hartmanice 2026), told the Czech News Agency that he knows about the construction work from his informants, not from the ministries. According to him, a large excavator is working at the site and fencing is under way. The mayors of the surrounding municipalities received the latest information, in his words, on 21 September 2026, when the Ministry of the Environment presented to them the schedule for the clean-up of the old environmental burden.[1][2]

Chronology

  • — The army is building an access road to a contaminated area in the Šumava. Novinky.cz Ekolist.cz

Sources

  1. Novinky.cz — 19 October 2026
  2. Ekolist.cz — 19 October 2026