The executive committee of the Zhytomyr City Council has decided to hold the water utility financially liable for polluting the Teteriv River with untreated wastewater near the village of Sloboda-Selets.
Polina Chervinska, head of the city council's Department of Ecology and Natural Resources, explained that this area was recognized as a vulnerable zone, Suspilne reports.
She said that the decision of the executive committee will regulate the level of wastewater treatment. If the indicators of the chemical component of water exceed the maximum permissible standards, the Zhytomyrvodokanal utility company will be financially responsible for this.
According to her, the Law No. 2887-IX "On Wastewater Disposal and Treatment" allows local governments to identify vulnerable areas. This also applies to the work of water utilities.
"In the area of Slobody-Selets, there are water treatment plants from which already treated water is discharged. This means that before discharging treated wastewater, the enterprise must purify it to such a concentration as is permitted, without the negative impact of the task on the environment. There is norms of the maximum allowable content of phosphorus or nitrogen from treatment facilities. These indicators should not be exceeded. In the case of a higher concentration than allowed, there is an opportunity to hold the same water utilities responsible for the pollution of water bodies," Chervinska explained.
Earlier, EcoPolitic wrote, that in September in the village of Sloboda-Selets, which is actually a part of Zhytomyr, it was discovered that sewage was flowing into the river from sewage treatment plants.
As EcoPolitic previously reported, in Zhytomyr during a thunderstorm on June 20, a sewage network burst, sewage from which flooded several private houses and entered the Teteriv River.
