"Impossible to drink": in Kalmykia for the second month they cannot purify water from pesticides

Lagan is a small town in Kalmykia, located a few kilometers from the Caspian Sea.

Tourist guides indicate that Lagan has excellent ecology, because there are no factories and factories - the inhabitants are mainly engaged in agriculture and fishing.

But for several months in the city it is impossible to drink tap water - the concentration of harmful substances significantly exceeds the norm.

The pollution was recorded on July 24, since then the water quality has not improved, and the cause of the poisoning has not yet been found.

An inspection carried out by the Rospotrebnadzor of Kalmykia in Lagan and the neighboring villages of Krasinskoye and Severnoye showed that the water was contaminated with pesticide and dust, and their maximum permissible concentration was almost doubled, pesticides were found in the network of the Krasinsky reservoir.

On July 25, an emergency meeting on poisoned water was held in the building of the Lagansky District Municipal Formation.

It was announced that, according to the results of laboratory studies, the water is unsuitable for drinking and is dangerous to human health.

The reasons for the discrepancy between the drinking water indicators of the central water supply and the established norms are being investigated.

The Lagansky District Prosecutor's Office is conducting a supervisory check, which has been put under the control of the republic's prosecutor.

"How they scooped up from the toilet"

“The water gives off an unpleasant smell of dust, as if it is highly chlorinated, it is impossible to drink.

Half-half-half-mouth, as if scooped out of the toilet bowl.

Why now the problem has become, I can not say, before there were no interruptions with water.

This has been going on for two months now, people are tired and used to it, "Igor Kryukov, a native of Lagan, told RT.

Another local resident also noted that the situation has not changed over the past month.

“The water came with dust, so it goes poisoned.

Water carriers go around the city, but many do not have time to take it.

For example, they are at work at this time and just buy water.

I personally just buy water from the store.

I saw people taking them from the water trucks: there is yellow water, it has to settle for a day, sand, mucus at the bottom, I absolutely don't want to cook with such water.

The people were promised a recalculation of utility bills because of the poisoned water, recently payments came, but nothing was counted, "a resident of the city Anna told RT.

According to the Rospotrebnadzor of Kalmykia, pesticides were found in the water supply system of Lagan.

The content of the chemical substance dichlorodiphenyltrichloromethylmethane (DDT) in drinking water in Lagan exceeded the maximum permissible concentration by one and a half times, hexachlorobenzene - twice.

Since July 25, a ban on the use of tap water for cooking has been in effect in the Lagansk region.

Georgy Sambursky, scientific secretary of the Expert and Technological Council of the RAVV (Russian Association for Water Supply and Sanitation), explained to RT that the pesticides found in Lagan water are among the most poisonous.

“It all depends on the time during which the pesticides enter the body.

If this continues for a long time, then the concentration increases.

They leave the body for a rather long time, while during the withdrawal intermediate forms are formed, which are even more toxic.

That is, we are talking about long-term poisoning.

What exactly will be the harm can be said only if you know the period during which these substances were received and specific compounds.

For example, dust, which was reportedly also found in Lagan water, is one of the most poisonous pesticides, ”the expert noted.

"Every pipe in patches"

So far, local authorities have arranged the supply of purified water, which is transported around the city and are trying to put in order the treatment system.

“We are actively fighting, replacing filter media.

We have already cleaned up the Krasinskoye reservoir a little and we are supplying drinking water to the population by water carriers.

We hope that after filtration everything will be corrected, but experts say that the standard filtration system may not cope, "Ochir Ochirov, head of the Lagansky district, explained to RT.

• © riakalm.ru

According to the official, experts have not yet been able to establish the causes of the pollution.

“It is not clear where the water got polluted and for what reason.

Possibly pesticides were sprayed from planes to poison the locust.

But we had only one flight in the area, closer to the Caspian Sea, where water is already flowing out, in the reed zone.

There are huge hordes of Asiatic locusts.

The Astrakhan people also hounded a lot, and now they say that they did not fly.

But I personally saw the planes, it turns out that they took off without justification, ”Ochirov said.

Also, according to him, poachers could have poisoned the water.

“Maybe they caught fish with dust, there is such a method when barrels are thrown into the water,” says the head of the district.

He also stated that the city water supply system is worn out as much as possible.

“The wear is 98%, each pipe is in patches, the system of treatment facilities requires reconstruction, the water utility has not been cleaned since Soviet times, there is already silt deposits,” Ochirov said.

There is no money for global reconstruction, the water utility is causing losses - for several years, according to the mayor, it has not been allowed to be leased out to private companies.

“For them, this is a deliberately unprofitable undertaking, some took it and when they saw what was going on there, they immediately ran away.

There is water theft and big losses, many of our gardens are watered, but they do not want to pay, they put magnets on the meters, and so on.

And resource providers have high tariffs, ”Ochirov said.

In addition, he noted that the water entering the city does not in principle meet drinking standards: "We are fed by the Caspian system of irrigation of canals, there only fields are watered with this water, but we already have it as drinking water."

This picture coincides with what experts say about the water supply in Kalmykia.

According to the assessment of the Russian Association for Water Supply and Sanitation, the situation in the region is one of the most difficult in the country, and the Lagansky District is mentioned in the organization's recent report as one of the most problematic.

Only 7.4% of the republic's population receive clean water, approximately 16% of the region's population is provided with water only through its supply.

The average specific water consumption per one villager is 42 liters per day (in some areas only 7.5-10 l / day), with a standard hygienic requirement of 125-160 l / day.

In a number of districts, residents are forced to use water from irrigation canals for household and drinking needs without preliminary cleaning and disinfection.