Environmental disaster for all of Ukraine: Zhytomyr's sewage will soon reach the Dnipro River
Zhytomyr's sewage, which flowed into the local river for five days along with dead fish, will soon reach the Dnieper. Ecologists estimate that hundreds of millions of hryvnias are needed to clean the riverbed and restock the river.
Sewage from all over Zhytomyr was discharged into the river for almost a week. And, as experts say, almost the entire periodic table flowed in. The oxygen in the river became five times less than the norm, so the fish died. And all because of an accident at the main sewage pumping station, which pumps sewage to the filters. Last Friday, everything there was flooded.
"The inflow of water was so strong that the overflow began above this wall. Wastewater began to enter directly into the machine room," says Andriy Nikitin, director of the communal enterprise "Zhytomyrvodokanal".
One pump burned out instantly - the second, flooded, was dried and cleaned. They turned it on. But after 15 minutes, it also burned out. A new one was installed only on Wednesday night. Five days passed.
The accident dealt a devastating blow to the environment.
"The damage amounts to about 9 million hryvnias. This is only for fish, and the damage for water pollution, for the water body, will be calculated separately," says Serhiy Fedorchuk, senior state inspector for environmental protection of the State Environmental Inspectorate of the Polissia District.
Eco-activists are confident that hundreds of millions of hryvnias are needed to restore everything.
"About 200-300 million hryvnias should be allocated here to clean the riverbed. At least 10-12 million hryvnias are needed to restock this area," says Ihor Mali, head of the public organization "Eco-Fund".
"Neither the local budget nor the reserve fund has such money. It is planned to allocate half a million hryvnias from the reserve fund for fish stocking. From the water utility - 300 thousand hryvnias," says Serhiy Kondratyuk, deputy mayor of Zhytomyr.
The relevant Ministry of Environmental Protection can help. That's what eco-activists say. But there - they don't even want to hear about it and refuse to comment. They point to the water utility, saying that if they polluted it - let them restore everything. And the fact that this is an environmental issue - does not particularly bother the eco-minister. The locals - too, they fish. And a little further downstream, people water livestock from the river. But what will happen to that milk, meat, fish and water, which is already in the capital, should also concern the Ministry of Environment. But everyone there maintains Olympic calm.