The State Ecological Inspectorate of the Southern District together with the National Police of Ukraine are looking for the source of the pollution of the Mokra Moskovka River in Zaporizhzhia with a black dense substance and the persons responsible for it.
This was reported by the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine.
The ministry said that on the evening of May 11, a video showing the pollution of the Mokra Moskovka riverbed in Zaporizhzhia appeared on social media. It shows that the surface of the water is covered with a dense film of a thick dark substance.
Video: t.me/zaborzp.
At 8:00 a.m. the next day, environmental inspectors from the State Environmental Inspectorate of the Southern District arrived at the scene. They recorded pollution over an area of more than 800 m².
Local residents speculate that it could be fuel oil. They say that the layer of pollutant is so thick that even heavy stones do not fall through it.
Video: t.me/zaborzp.
The townspeople believe that the probable source of the leakage is the pipes near the water pumping station, which, according to eyewitnesses, could have been the source of the uncontrolled leakage.
At the time of the inspection, the source of the substance entering the river, as well as the persons responsible for it, could not be identified. Environmental inspectors took samples of water, soil, and the substance itself for laboratory analysis.
It was also decided to install barrier booms by the Zaporizhzhia Oblast emergency services to prevent further spread of the contamination.
Environmental inspectors have now started collecting information to calculate the damage. The State Environmental Inspectorate of the Southern District, Zaporizhzhia City Council, the Main Department of the National Police in Zaporizhzhia Oblast and the Specialized Environmental Prosecutor's Office are working to identify the source of the pollution and the perpetrators.
As a reminder, in the digest for April 19-25, EcoPolitics reported that in Berdychiv, LLC “Complex of Environmental Facilities” has to pay more than UAH 1.6 million for discharging almost 700 thousand m3 of insufficiently treated wastewater into the Hnylopyat River.
