About 5,600 tons of contaminated water flowed into the Seim River from a sugar plant in the Kursk region. Now it will take 2-3 years to restore the ecosystems of the Seim and Desna rivers. This was stated during a press conference on September 12 by the director of the Institute of Hydrobiology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine Serhiy Afanasiev and the director of the UkrGMI of the State Emergency Service and the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine Volodymyr Osadchy, the Ministry of Environmental Protection reports UNN.
Details
Osadchiy said that the volume of contaminated water that got into the Seimas was estimated using satellite images. According to him, the pollution destroyed all the dissolved oxygen in the water in a few hours, which led to a fish kill.
At the same time, Afanasiev cited the example of the environmental disaster on the Dniester in 1983, when the breach of the earthen dam of the Stebnytsia tailings dump killed all life along 500 km of the river. He added that on unregulated rivers, recovery can take several years.
The Ministry of Environment said that together with scientists, representatives of the State Water Agency and other involved bodies, they are working on the most optimal measures to restore ecosystems and natural water quality in rivers.