Most of Ukraine’s mineral springs are located in the Carpathian Mountains, where all types of mineral water, including varieties with a unique chemical composition and medicinal qualities, are found. Such springs are popularly known as “holy wells.” For hundreds of years people have learned about their healing properties from their own experience. Today, people take the cure at spas and drink specially bottled mineral waters. o o
Zakarpatska oblast owes its popularity largely to its spas. Here one finds nearly 66 percent of all carbonated mineral springs in Ukraine. These waters match the quality and medicinal properties of well-known spas in the Caucasus, the Czech Republic, Poland, and France. Ukraine also boasts more than 70 percent of Europe’s mineral water deposits, so it does not take an analyst to understand the benefits this situation offers the state.
The Transcarpathian region has 360 mineral springs varying in chemical composition, gas content, temperature, and medicinal properties. Their overall output rate is some 10,000 m? every 24 hours. In terms of salinity, Transcarpathian mineral waters are categorized as weak-, low-medium, or highly carbonated. Some are like brine. In other words, Zakarpattia has mineral waters of all balneological groups. The majority (61.4%) is found in the mountains, 31.4% in the foothills, and only 7.2% are located in the lowland part of the oblast.
An analysis of their physical, chemical, biological, and medicinal properties, as well as the 24-hour output rate, makes it possible to single out 30 of the most promising mineral water deposits. According to the industrial statistics department of the Transcarpathian Regional Directorate of Statistics, four deposits conform to the Yesentuki standards, seven to the Borjomi and Areni, plus a number of analogues of other famous mineral waters.
HOW IS THE WATER BEING USED?
It should be noted that the mineral springs of Zakarpattia are the kind of natural wealth that helps preserve what is most precious in life: people’s health. Medicinal mineral waters with high carbon dioxide content and such microelements as iron, copper, zinc, and manganese are very valuable. What makes these microelements so special is their presence in mineral waters in therapeutic proportions. They can be used to treat a number of digestive, cardiovascular, and nervous system pathologies. Experts also believe that certain kinds of local mineral waters are godsends to Chornobyl victims because they are an excellent means of stimulating the immune system and fortifying the system against many negative factors.
It is no surprise, then, that Ukraine has a number of spas and resorts, including such famous ones as Kvitka polonyny, Shaian, Syniak, Poliana, and Verkhovyna. Poliana, a settlement in Svaliava oblast, has two large resorts: Soniachne Zakarpattia and Poliana. Experts agree that the most effective Transcarpathian spas are Poliana Kupil, Poliana Kvasova, Shaianska, and Luzhanska.
HEALTH PLUS STATE REVENUES
Needless to say, mineral water is popular because of its quality and medicinal properties. Therefore, the scale of its output and bottling rate are on an upward curve, year in and out. This is noticeably beneficial to the local budget. Mykhailo Popovych, acting head of the economy department at the Zakarpattia Oblast State Administration, says that mineral water obtained by licensed operators from the oblast’s formally valued deposits averages 22.9 percent compared to 21 percent in 2005. More than 10.2 million deciliters were bottled in the first nine months of 2006, an increase of 15.7 percent compared to 2005.
Another important aspect is that mineral water, as a kind of natural wealth, is providing revenues to the state budget. According to oblast statistics, in the first nine months of 2006 mineral water extracting and bottling businesses (both licensed and secondary users) paid 13.7 million hryvnias to the consolidated budget, 17 percent more than during the same period in 2005. Mineral water bottling companies and spas paid 4.7 million and 9.1 million, respectively, an increase of 25.9 and 12.9 percent, respectively, compared to 2005.
HIGH STANDARD AND REGIONAL CAPACITIES
Exploitation of this natural wealth causes persistent problems, including a recent one: Derzkomstandard, the State Committee on Standards, is coming up with tougher bottling regulations for mineral water. In August 2006 the committee filed a new national bottling standard, DSTU 878-2006 “Mineral Waters Obtained Naturally or Bottled. General Technical Conditions,” which is scheduled to come into force as of Jan. 1, 2007. Under the new regulations mineral water must be bottled in the immediate vicinity of a spring; it can be transported to enterprises located at a distance from the spring/well only through pipelines.
On the one hand, the idea of pumping mineral water through pipelines to a place,0 where it can be bottled sounds good, because we all know that during shipment mineral water loses its medicinal qualities, and its molecular structure is destroyed. On the other hand, the author of this state standard somehow forgot to take into account local mineral water suppliers, the people who obtain and bottle this water, and this aspect is particularly important.
“Decisions cannot be made and implemented overnight,” says Volodymyr Hoblyk, deputy head of the Zakarpattia Oblast State Administration, commenting on this situation. “Our administration is totally in favor of introducing the new standard because tougher requirements for bottling mineral water will only help to improve its quality. This is very positive. However, a number of problems are emerging from the implementation of this new standard.
“To begin with, Zakarpattia is mostly a highland area. It has a number of underground communications (gas and oil pipelines, communication cables) and privatized plots. All this prevents laying pipelines to transport mineral water to bottling companies. It is even less realistic to accomplish this task in half a year (August-January). Also, in order to start using these pipelines to pump mineral water, the bottling companies will have to change their technologies (replace some of their equipment, draft new projects, look for sources of financing, and so on). All this will take at least two years. Otherwise, instituting new standards may cause the major mineral water suppliers to close up shop, which will lead to the loss of a large number of jobs and a noticeable drop in central and local budget revenues.
“It is good that Derzhkomstandard agreed with the arguments of the Zakarpattia Oblast State Administration and is considering the possibility of postponing the new regulations for two years. Now we have time to get ready; the local administration will assemble the managers of mineral water bottling plants and help them get prepared for operating under the new conditions.”
HOW ARE MINERAL SPRINGS EXPLOITED?
The overall picture lacks one final brushstroke: is this natural wealth being exploited properly? Are we upsetting the natural ecological balance?
Mineral water sales are leading to a high degree of competition among various business entities, and tensions are mounting. (Since 1997, the number of mineral water bottling companies has increased from 16 to 28.) The desire for superprofits often leads to violations of the Law of Ukraine “On Natural Wealth,” regulations governing the development and protection of mineral and medicinal water deposits, and the Law of Ukraine “On Resorts.”
“Problems relating to the use of natural wealth have turned into priorities over the years of Ukraine’s independence,” says Zakarpattia governor Oleh Havashi, adding, “Before, all enterprises were run by the state, kept within a single social system. Now we have all kinds of private structures, small businesses that also want to use our natural resources, even if they lack professional experience, including thrifty management of natural resources. Potential entrepreneurs see mineral water spilling out of the ground, and they just want to use it to make a fast buck. However, they should also be aware of the full degree of responsibility that goes with this line of business. So our objective is to thwart wrongdoers from committing unlawful acts, and their rapacious attitude to the environment.”
This statement is confirmed by the fact that the fragmentation of mineral water deposits is resulting in the emergence of a number of exploiters who appear to be operating without a single ideology or coordinator in extracting and bottling mineral water for a broad range of consumers. Therefore, today’s urgent priority is the modern assessment of all local mineral water deposits and their registry, something on which the Transcarpathian authorities are working hard.
