In Zhytomyr region, in the village of Karabachyn, Brusyliv District, a local oil factory is accused of dumping sewage into the Batiivka River.
The Korostysh District Prosecutor's Office has initiated criminal proceedings for violation of the rules for the protection of water bodies, the police are also conducting a pre-trial investigation, reports Суспільне.
It is noted that on December 29, 2022, local residents recorded how sewage flowed into the Batyivka River and into three ponds downstream. In addition, on January 3, 2023, they discovered a pump pumping sewage into residents' gardens.
Alina Svyatnyuk, the head of the Karabakh district, said that the Brusyliv oil factory is polluting the river and land plots.
"The situation with the waste from the Brusyliv butter factory has been going on for many years. People complained a lot, wrote appeals, but to no avail. People suffer from an unbearable stench in the fall and summer. Later, this waste began to be poured onto the land plots of the residents of our village. People began to contact and inform the management , but they refuse to be involved in this," Svyatniuk said.
She also said that after the publicity in the media, the director of the Brusyliv oil factory, Mykola Vozniuk, acted on her psychological and moral pressure.
The article emphasized that Vozniuk denies the company's involvement in sewage discharge, as well as threats.
"There were no violations on my part or on the part of the company. The melted water, the rains that passed. Not only did they go there, they also filled our houses more than we needed. This is nature, I do not control it. Regarding sewage treatment plants, we did complete reclamation three years ago. There are no problems with them now," he said.
Wozniuk also added that the smell of sewage treatment plants can only be present when the temperature reaches 35 degrees.
Specialists of the State Environmental Inspection will take water and soil samples for research. This will allow us to establish how the enterprise deals with wastewater.
Sviatniuk emphasized that the community demands the oil factory to update its treatment facilities.
Earlier, EcoPolitic wrote, that the court forced the state enterprise Dubnovodokanal in the Rivne region to compensate 1.6 million hryvnias in damages for waste water discharge to the Ikva River.
As EcoPolitic previously reported, eco-inspectors accused the Korostysh city council in Zhytomyr region of inactivity and improper performance of powers due to long-term unauthorized landfill of industrial waste from natural stone processing.
