Also, working out solutions to ecological crises is complex stuff. Unless you're a chemical engineer, you're not likely to have a clear idea of how a chemical company like Kolín's Draslovka can maintain proper control of its cyanide neutralization process. Nor will you have much inkling as to how to minimize the mercury or dioxin emissions from Spolana, the Unipetrol-owned chemical plant that spilled tons of chlorine into the Vltava River during the floods of 2002.

Draslovka, until now a little-noted, much smaller chemical company, has been promoted to Page One these days, thanks to its dumping of at least 2 cubic meters (70 cubic feet) of cyanide into the Labe River Jan. 9. The spill killed some 10 metric tons (11 short tons) of pike-perch, bream, roach and other fish downstream, may have wiped out populations on which the local fisheries depended, and caused an international incident when Germany was only notified of the spill headed its way over a week later.

Although experts say the cyanide was diluted at the confluence of the Labe and Vltava rivers in Mělník to what's considered a safe level in the Czech Republic — .01 micrograms per liter — the concentrations had reached .309 in Kolín and .316 downstream in Nymburk.

Fortunately, it doesn't take an expert to see the solutions to problems like these.

Although there's inevitably a technical explanation, in the case of Draslovka, a frozen sensor that should have prevented the cyanide spill, the bigger picture is clear to everyone. As Jan Slanec, of Czech Environmental Inspection, put it, "It's a human error because these things must be caught."

Although Draslovka did not take responsibility until the spill was traced back to its doorstep Jan. 17, it has now taken the appropriate step of compensating local fisheries for their losses. This is more than we've seen from polluters like Spolana and Ústí nad Labem's Spolchemie, and constitutes a small but important step in the right direction.

As the Environment Ministry's investigation into the Draslovka spill now ramps up, the company has a chance to set an example in corporate responsibility by opening its doors, allowing the public unprecedented access to reports, and committing to investing in quality control to improve its monitoring equipment.

Such steps would dovetail well with new European Union rules, including an integrated register of pollution that has helped to inform residents of troubled areas, according to Czech ecological advocacy group Arnika.

And, according to the group's director, Jindřich Petrlik, a petition dubbed "Poisonless future" was signed by 14,000 people last year urging compatibility with the Stockholm Agreements on with toxic waste.

Pressure like this is what it takes. Thus far, Czech chemical factories like Spolana have refused to agree to processing changes that would reduce toxic emissions, according to the Czech publication Ekolist.