In Sumy, as well as downstream and upstream outside the city, environmental inspectors found 3.1 times the BOD5 and 2.9 times the COD pollution levels in the Psel River.
In the river near the village of Stare Selo, they also found a 1.3-fold excess of nitrite concentration and white foam on the surface, the State Environmental Inspectorate in Sumy Oblast reported on Facebook.
It is noted that the river was inspected due to a citizen's appeal in the EcoThreat app. Environmental inspectors examined the coast and waters of the Psel.
The press service said that specialists from the State Environmental Inspectorate took samples from six control points.
Laboratory analysis showed that the water quality meets the established maximum permissible concentrations for water bodies for domestic and fishery use, with the exception of the following indicators:
- CHC (chemical oxygen consumption) – an excess in all samples by 1.7-2.9 times;
- BSK5 (biological oxygen consumption) – an excess in all samples by 2.8-3.1 times;
- nitrites – an excess of 1.3 times in the Stary Selo area.
The press service explained that such excesses indicate a large amount of organic substances in surface water, which affects the oxygen content in rivers.
"The increase in the content of organic substances in the water can be the result of both natural processes that occur in the river and external influences, in particular, due to the ingress of pollutants with meltwater, the discharge of insufficiently purified wastewater, and other factors," the report says.
Earlier, EcoPolitic wrote, that nitrate contamination was detected in 70% of wells in Hlukhiv district, Sumy region, and cases of water contamination in centralized water supply wells in rural settlements began to be registered.
As EcoPolitic previously reported, environmental inspectors did not confirm the facts of liquid waste dumping from the Bohodukhiv meat processing plant into the Ihnatenkove Lake in Okhtyrka, Sumy region, as complained by local residents.
