Russians were deprived of the coast: the State Duma adopted a scandalous law on sanitary zones

The State Duma deputies approved the sale of water protection lands to the oligarchs: in the second and third readings they voted "FOR" the privatization of the 2nd belt of sanitary protection zones for drinking water sources of entire cities.

272 deputies from United Russia voted for the amendment to the 27th article of the Land Code, and even environmentalists were among them: the chairman of the committee on ecology Kobylkin, Fetisov, Burmatov and the ex-minister of ecology of the Moscow region Kogan. There were no deputies who voted "against" in "United Russia".

Unexpectedly, 13 deputies from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation and 18 from A Just Russia voted “against”, but there were more of those who did not come to the meeting at all. There were no people's representatives from the LDPR at all.

The consequences of the adoption of this amendment, which allows businessmen to build water protection lands, according to experts, can be catastrophic: anthropogenic pollution of water bodies will provoke a massive development of cyanobacteria and toxins produced by them that affect the liver and nervous system, as well as hepatotoxins, which are called "rapid death factors". Contamination of such areas can lead to emergencies.

This amendment, according to Readovka, was lobbied by large developers, for example, the brother of the governor of the Moscow region, who controls the construction company Samolet (in the Moscow region, such land makes up 35% of the entire area of the region).

Journalist Dmitry Front comments on this unpleasant event:

“The authorities do not listen to professionals, which ultimately leads to irreversible consequences. But then again, who needs professionals if such a law was lobbied by those who need their own shores and private beaches".

The State Duma allowed the privatization of sites in the zones of protection of water supply sources.

This means that the State Duma allowed to buy land near rivers, lakes, canals and reservoirs. Experts predict the subsequent development of territories near the water, which will lead to a deterioration in the quality of drinking water, and citizens will no longer be able to get to the purchased banks.

Earlier, several academicians of the Russian Academy of Sciences sent a letter to the Security Council of the Russian Federation with a request to prevent the negative consequences of the bill. “If the amendments are adopted, not only illegal construction and seizure of land in the second zone of the ZSO by private owners will be legalized,” the letter said. “Thousands of hectares of natural areas, which are the green lungs of the Moscow region and a natural obstacle to the flow of pollution into rivers and reservoirs, will fall under construction”.

They are confident that the development will inevitably lead to the degradation of the natural barrier that protects the water source from pollution coming through surface runoff: “Yes, and the facility that will be built there will itself be a source of pollution”.

At the same time, academicians write, citizens' access to water bodies may be difficult due to the appearance of private buildings along the banks. And this will lead to a limitation of the "recreational potential of reservoirs."