According to the official report that The Day has obtained from the State Environmental Inspection in Zhytomyr region, a special laboratory had taken a number of samples of water in the river itself in the vicinity of the dam near Synhaii village and tested effluent at Korosten Municipal Water Authority’s wastewater treatment plant in order to determine whether the Uzh River near Korosten had been contaminated, as there was a massive fish kill on March 5 through March 8 there that had been widely publicized. The inspection has not only tested effluent at JSC Korosten MDF Plant’s wastewater treatment plant, but tested storm drains effluent and conducted an extraordinary review of compliance with regulations at the plant, too. They have determined that permissible levels of certain chemicals were exceeded at the enterprise, and this finding together with some other circumstances has allowed the inspection to name the plant as a possible pollutant of the river.
Acting deputy chief of Aquatic Biological Resources Protection, Use and Reproduction and Fisheries Regulation Main State Directorate in Zhytomyr region Hennadii Khodakivsky said in an interview with The Day that the preliminary calculations showed the damages due to the environmental disaster to be as high as 1,313,000 hryvnyas, and these damages had been recorded already. However, as the Uzh was still frozen upstream, not all the dead fish could be found at the time of recording the damages. At the same time, the later report for the Ministry of Emergencies of Ukraine Main Territorial Directorate in Zhytomyr region, on the one hand, put total fish kill at 10 tons or so, while on the other, estimated damages will be essentially lower. Khodakivsky noted that dead fish should have been collected, counted, and buried in lime so that it would not harm the river and the wider environment. However, unknown people have collected the fish and taken it to unknown destination. Thus, it may appear on fish markets, too, so the residents of Korosten, Zhytomyr, and Kyiv clearly need to take this into account and treat river fish on offer in the local markets carefully. Khodakivsky stressed that fisheries inspectors had handed out leaflets to local residents warning of danger. According to Khodakivsky, the worst of all is the fact that nobody knows what will become of the Prypiat River and Dnipro basin, for the Uzh discharges its waters there.
Understandably, the Korosten residents are particularly alarmed, especially since they have witnessed more than one case of contamination of the river and massive fish kill which is a clear sign of pollution of the Uzh flow during the past 12 months. Many locals ascribe these facts to functioning of the already mentioned MDF plant, which began its operations in 2011. The residents are mainly complaining of air pollution by dust and wood fiber (the plant uses forest products as raw material), which is dangerous for the respiratory system, unpleasant odors that cause dizziness and headache, and polluting the Uzh and the city’s soil. The plant’s management denied that their production harmed the environment in the time of launching operations, and the first deputy general director of the Korosten MDF Plant Mark Tarnavsky told much the same thing The Day on March 12, arguing that the Uzh fish kill had nothing to do with the enterprise. The city council member Serhii Dmytruk told The Day that the MDF plant issue had been considered at the session of that body in the fall of 2011. The members were assured then that the situation would be improved soon. However, he said, given recent developments, the members would have to return to the issue.
Head of the Zhytomyr regional branch of the NGO World International Congress of Rights and Freedoms Protection Valerii Keselman called the recent events a large-scale disaster in his interview to The Day, which, among other problems, can lead to growth in cancer prevalence in the city. He said he was called by concerned people from the US and Israel and asked to clarify the situation. The locals do not trust findings of local as well as regional health and environmental authorities that had previously assured them that they were alright, so they intend to request testing of water, soil, and air to be conducted at laboratories outside of Ukraine. They are also ready to hold protests, including coming for help and bringing dead fish to the walls of Verkhovna Rada or the Presidential Administration of Ukraine buildings.
