RUSSIA: Scientists say controversial mill still polluting world's deepest lake

Record ID: 216842

  • Title: RUSSIA: Scientists say controversial mill still polluting world's deepest lake
  • Date: 22nd July 2010
  • Summary: IRKUTSK, RUSSIA (RECENT) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR LIMNOLOGICAL INSTITUTE PLATE ON WALL SAYING NAME OF INSTITUTE VARIOUS OF SCIENTIST WORKING ON WATER SAMPLE IN LABORATORIES (4 SHOTS) COMPUTER SHOWING DATA COMPUTER SCREEN SCIENTIST LOOKING AT COMPUTER (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) DIRECTOR OF LIMNOLOGICAL INSTITUTE, MIKHAIL GRACHEV, SAYING: "The dive took place
  • Embargoed: 6th August 2010 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: Nature / Environment
  • Reuters ID: LVAERG8YKZV28EMN0SEPLDJV9TN5
  • Story Text: A Russian expedition to the bottom of the world's deepest lake, Lake Baikal, showed a controversial pulp and paper mill on the shores of the lake is indeed polluting the pristine waters of the lake.
    At the request of Russia's environment supervision authority a group of Russian scientists used one of the country's Mir self-propelled manned submersibles to dive near the place where the Baikalsk Pulp and Paper Mill discharges its waste waters in the lake and collect water samples at various depths and bottom sediments samples.
    "Our task was to lower to a depth of 2.5 kilometres below the discharge pipes of the pulp and paper factory, and then move through a canyon where the pollutants are deposited and bring back samples from the deposits and the water," said Eugene Chernyaev, the pilot of the submersible, after resurfacing from his mission.
    In addition, divers went to the mouth of the waste water discharge pipes of the factory that are situated 33 metres below the surface of the lake to check the condition of the pipes and to take samples of the waste water as it leaves the mouth.
    "If we compare the water of the lake with the water around the factory pipes there is a difference in clarity, and there is the presence of weighed substances, and when working in this area we also saw traces of these substances on the the surface of the water," said Igor Khanaev, head of the diving and underwater monitoring team.
    After analysing the samples at the prestigious Limnological Institute in Irkutsk, the closest city to Lake Baikal, scientists said they had discovered illegal and harmful substances in the samples.
    According to Mikhail Grachev, the director of the institute, Russian law forbids any dumping of substances in the lake for which no official maximum permissible concentration has been set.
    "The dive took place on the 10th of July and today we finished the draft for results of our analysis. We found dangerous substances for which the maximum permissible concentration has not been established. That is it. Now I think our government needs to decide to either delete this part of the law or enforce what was previous promised, namely to install a closed-loop waste water circuit in the factory," Grachev said.
    Built in 1966, the Baikalsk paper mill has long been under heavy criticism for being the largest source of environmental pollution of the lake. In October 2008 production was halted following instructions from environmental authorities to introduce a closed-loop waste treatment system and to cease dumping waste into Lake Baikal. The mill said then that the production of unbleached pulp was unprofitable and started a permanent shutdown.
    In January 2010, however, Russia's Prime Minister Vladimir Putin allowed the mill to resume operations and the mill subsequently started production tests, using the old open-loop waste treatment system.
    The facility is not yet running at full capacity and has only launched one of its pulp production lines. But it plans to launch its second pulp production line with a capacity of 7,500-8,000 tonnes of pulp per month in September-October. The facility is expected to produce pulp within the open-loop waste treatment system until at least mid-2012.
    Listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Lake Baikal is known for its natural beauty and biodiversity. Over 80 percent of the animals living in the lake are unique.
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