Earlier, the Walloon environment minister Philippe Henry had denied that Cosucra was involved and claimed his own inspectors had found abnormally low oxygen levels in river water in West Flanders. However, when Flemish environment inspectors confronted the owner of Cosucra, he admitted that his factory had caused the leak, Schauvliege told the Flemish Parliament. “We will of course take the necessary legal steps,” she said. Last week the Flemish environment agency said the damage to fish in the river would take years to repair.