The pipe extends from the industrial zone located along the
Umansky Lane and enters Ohkta in the area where the lane crosses
the Revolyitsii chausse. On August 7th, Greenpeace experts took
samples of the wastewater or, more properly, of the black oily
liquid with pungent odor, and transferred them to be analyzed in
the Center of Water Research and Monitoring. The protocol received
from the laboratory was shocking. The oil product concentration in
water samples from the Okhta discharge pipe was approximately 7
g/l. One liter of this fluid suffices to make 140 tons of clear
water unusable.
"We have monitored this discharge pipe for a week and, according
to our calculations, several tens of tons of oil products were
discharged into Okhta during that period, directly, without any
purification", - this is how Dmitry Artamonov, the Head of
St.Petersburg Greenpeace Division comments. - "According to the
legislation, untreated wastewater discharge into rivers is
forbidden. Therefore, what happens at Okhta is a direct crime in
respect to the city and its residents taking place under the
absolute condonation of the authorities. For the main water intake
system of St.Petersburg is located several meters from the Okhta
entry down the stream".
The list of dangerous substances which are
present in the Okhta discharge point contains not only oil
products. The specialists have also found dangerous concentrations
of ethylbenzol, naphthalene and dibutyl phthalate. The former can
cause dermatitis and damage respiratory tract. A naphthalene
contact leads to breakage of blood cells and can case a cataract.
And dibutyl phthalate which concentration in the same discharge has
appeared to exceed the norm by 130 times, influences hormonal
system and causes decrease in male spermatozoids.
As it follows from the list of the substances found in the
water, the polluter is an enterprise producing polymers
(plastics).
Greenpeace has appealed to the Prosecutor's Office of
St.Petersburg, Federal Service for Supervision of Natural Resource
Usage, Russian Federal Service for Ecological, Technical and Atomic
Supervision requesting to stop the discharge from this pipe into
the Okhta River immediately and to carry out a thorough examination
of the activities of the enterprises using this wastewater
discharge point.
For more detailed information, please contact the Greenpeace St.Petersburg Division: +7(812)352-1022, 352-9219 Dmitry Artamonov, Maria Musatova.
The Greenpeace water patrol started its work on August 1st. Several times a week, a boat with special equipment makes trips at the Neva River and its tributaries and controls the level of water pollution. Research results are published at the Clean Neva Project Web Site – www.saveneva.ru
The Okhta River is one of the dirtiest Neva tributaries. Among five possible pollution levels, it relates to the fourth pollution level.
Though the legislation has established a prohibition for discharge of untreated waste water, only 60% domestic and industrial effluents were treated in St.Petersburg in 2006.