In Chelyabinsk, authorities looking for where phenol came from in the drinking spring of a million-plus city

Alexander Dybin

Vladimir Burmatov, First Deputy Chairman of the Committee on Ecology, Natural Resources and Environmental Protection of the State Duma, drew attention to the situation. In June, there was a fish kill at the Shershnevsky reservoir, which is a drinking water source for Chelyabinsk, as well as the satellite towns of Kopeysk, Yemanzhelinsk and Korkino. Dozens of dead fish were found near SNT "Medic" in the southeastern part of the reservoir. The Federal Agency for Fishery carried out an inspection on the fact of a mass death of fish and found that the cause could be an excess of phenol concentration.

“Based on the results of the studies, an excess of the approved standards of fishery significance, including the maximum allowable concentrations of harmful substances, was revealed,” the agency’s response to a request from a State Duma deputy says, “in terms of biochemical oxygen consumption after 20 days of incubation by 1.3 times and volatile phenol 5.3 times. In order to establish the impact of indicators exceeding the MPC on aquatic biological resources and their habitat, test reports were sent to the Ural branch of the Research Institute of Fisheries and Oceanography.

The final conclusion about what caused the death of the fish will be made at the Institute of Fisheries, but the very fact of the presence of phenol in the reservoir attracts. This is written by a specialist of the Federal Agency for Fisheries.

“It should be noted that phenol is a nerve agent that, in significant concentrations, has a detrimental effect on biological resources. Information about exceeding the MPC at the water body was also sent to the prosecutor's office of the Chelyabinsk region for a procedural decision," the document says.

According to Vladimir Burmatov, he also duplicated the appeal to the Prosecutor General's Office.

“This information was so casual, none of the local media opened their mouths: there was suddenly a mass death of fish in the main drinking source! - the deputy says, - this is always a signal of some serious processes that are taking place in the reservoir. The fish just don't die. And then it turns out that this is phenol - a dangerous substance. A 5-fold excess of MPC is not just like that. And yet there is no official comment. Regional authorities pretend that there is no problem. But in this situation, we must understand the dynamics: there is phenol in the water, it has become more or less, who dumped it? What happened to this organization? It is necessary to understand to whom we owe this happiness. Who thought of throwing off phenol in Hornets and how to regard it? We sent a request to the Prosecutor General's Office, it is necessary to identify the perpetrators."

The Ministry of Ecology of the Chelyabinsk region could not comment on the data received by the Federal Agency for Fishery, noting that this is the area of responsibility of Rospotrebnadzor. The administration of Chelyabinsk, whose municipal unitary enterprise "POVV" is engaged in the intake of water for the city's water supply system, also did not comment on the results of the study. Novye Izvestia sent a written request to the department of Rospotrebnadzor for the Chelyabinsk region.

According to State Duma deputy Vladimir Burmatov, it is necessary to deal with the source of phenol in the water of the Shershnevsky reservoir, since when water is purified with chlorine, phenol reacts and creates an even more toxic compound.

“In 1989, a phenolic catastrophe occurred in Ufa, when the Ufa River was polluted with this substance,” said the Deputy, “for several months people were forbidden to drink tap water because of pollution.”