- Tens of thousands of tons of oil seep into soil in the
Moscow region every year, and at the current rate the region might be left
without fresh water within a decade, the Natural Resources Ministry said
Monday.
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- The city of Moscow, however, should not be affected because
its water supply comes from the Moscow River, whose intakes are located
on higher ground than the industries that are contaminating the soil, the
ministry said.
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- Natural Resources Ministry official Alexander Reitlinger
said the threat to the region's water supply comes from linzas, deposits
10 to 15 meters deep where petroleum products have accumulated after being
trapped between porous soil above and nonporous clay below.
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- The contamination is the result of leakage from decrepit
storage facilities and pipelines over the past 20 to 30 years. But the
problem threatens to grow because up to 37,000 tons of oil continue to
leak into the soil every year, Reitlinger said.
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- What worries the ministry is the linzas have begun to
penetrate the Moscow region's underground water supplies, which account
for most of the area's fresh water.
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- "The problem is serious," Reitlinger said.
"If the underground water supply is poisoned, the Moscow region will
be left without fresh water within the next decade because 81 percent of
its water is taken from underground water streams."
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- The rest of the region's water comes from rivers.
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- The ministry ordered eight companies -- mainly fuel stations
for the major Moscow airports -- to tackle the problem last week.
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- Moscow region residents and companies have aggravated
the situation by not filling in fresh-water wells after abandoning them,
Reitlinger said. Oil bottled up in linzas has burst through the walls of
some wells and poisoned large deposits of fresh water, he said.
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- The ministry said in a report that deep-soil contamination
has been found at more than 80 locations around the region. There are also
13 sites within the Moscow city limits, Izvestia reported Monday.
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- In Moscow, the earth under the Moscow refinery and the
Moskvich car plant are among the most contaminated, Reitlinger said. But
he said the Moscow areas have not been closely examined "because the
ecological department has only been set up recently."
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- He said a Moscow review was planned sometime in the future.
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- The ministry report found that the worst leakage in the
Moscow region was at the Chkalovsky and Kubinka military airports, Reitlinger
said.
-
- The report also listed land used by fuel companies at
the Sheremetyevo, Domodedovo and Vnukovo airports, an oil storage facility
in Istra, and property where 38- to 77-year-old fuel storage tanks belonging
to Universal-Neft and Nefto-Service are buried.
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- The report did not determine how much oil has seeped
into the ground.
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- "We gave all these enterprises a warning recently,"
Reitlinger said. "If they don't deal with the problem, we will have
to shut them down."
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- He said the ministry understood that resolving the problem
would be a costly venture and that the companies involved lacked the funds
to do so themselves.
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- Airport fuel companies said they had been looking into
the matter even before the Natural Resources Ministry gave them the recent
warning.
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- Semyon Volfzon, head of the aviation fuel committee of
the Russian Airports Association, said a special meeting of more than 40
association members was called on Aug. 8 to tackle the issue.
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- "We have been dealing with it for the past five
years [at Vnukovo]," said Volfzon, deputy director of the fuel complex
at Vnukovo Airport. "We have fixed 11 fuel tanks out of the existing
15 and, I think, we have fixed about 80 percent of the problem.
-
- "We took out the contaminated soil, dumped it at
special sites and put in drainage systems. It cost a lot of money."
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- He would not say how much had been spent or how much
might be needed to resolve the problem.
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- Reitlinger said the Natural Resources Ministry also has
no figures.
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- A Domodedovo spokeswoman said the airport had not received
a warning and any leakage on its land was minimal.
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- Sheremetyevo officials could not immediately comment.
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- Nikolai Frolov, spokesman for Moscow Oil Co., a major
shareholder in the Moscow refinery, said the ground under the plant was
not as contaminated as the ministry believed.
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- "Probably some leakage does exist, but it is not
big and we don't see a problem here," he said. "We grow roses
and cucumbers on our grounds and have our own wells, but our water is fine."
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- Moskvich officials were unavailable for comment.
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- Navy spokesman Vladimir Bekhter said his superiors last
week ordered Chkalovsky Airport to clean up its grounds.
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- "The situation there is terrible," Bekhter
said. "The airport has leakage at its underground fuel storage facilities,
and some people living nearby have fuel leaking into their basements."
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- http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2002/10/08/003.html
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- Comment
-
- John Albrecht
- john2864@cox.net
- 10-10-2
-
- The article suggests this is a major problem that will
result in the poisoning of the groundwater of the Moscow region. While
this is a serious environmental situation, the article seems to needlessly
try to push only the panic button of the reader.
-
- Mature technology already exists that can handle the
contamination. This should not present a terminal threat to the population
of Moscow. The technology used need not be overly complicated. People
can even treat their own water at home for most immediate consumable needs
and to further ensure their personal drinking water is safe.
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- Depending on which technology is used and the level of
contamination, one can process about 500 liters for a little over $1 (US).
-
- Centralized processing will of course improve efficiency,
effectiveness, help contain costs, and should help ensure oils collected
from the process aren't adversely reintroduced into the environment. It
may even be possible to partially offset costs by selling the separated
oils.
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- Yes, it will cost money. But, the impact is addressable
and it can also create jobs.
-
- Regards,
- John Albrecht
- Phoenix, AZ
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