Translated material
Drip examination
Brewers from Ochakovo do not trust Oleg Mitvol’s analysis
Official environmentalists have decided on versions of the culprit for the pollution of the capital's Neverka and Setun rivers. Yesterday, the Ministry of Natural Resources issued a press release with the results of analyzes of samples taken in early July in the area of contamination. Experts from the department confirmed the version previously put forward by the deputy head of Rosprirodnadzor Oleg Mitvol, who accused Ochakovo MPBK CJSC of discharging wastewater into rivers . Yesterday, an encouraging Mr. Mitvol told Vremya Novostey that an assessment of the damage caused to the environment by the brewery’s activities is already underway in order to issue an appropriate fine to the entrepreneurs. In addition, another lawsuit to suspend the plant’s operations has already been submitted to court.Let us remind you that on July 4, Rosprirodnadzor and the capital’s Department of Natural Resources Management and Environmental Protection recorded the discharge of industrial wastewater into the Setun and Neverka rivers in the area of Ryabinovaya Street, where the Ochakovsky brewery is located. Then, during an inspection of the plant’s treatment facilities, Oleg Mitvol personally recorded the “pungent beer smell” of the waste and the characteristic cloudy brown color. After this, Mr. Mitvol’s department suspended the plant’s operations for five days and filed a lawsuit for a longer moratorium. Officials insisted that the plant be closed for at least three months.
But the officials did not have any serious arguments, since the court, for obvious reasons, would not have included in the case Mr. Mitvol’s own oral statements about the odors and color of the water. Now the results of the analysis have appeared. As stated in a press release from the Ministry of Natural Resources, water samples taken to identify the culprit of the pollution were taken at different points: while passing through the plant’s treatment facilities, as well as downstream and upstream of the Neverka River. As a result, experts found that when the wastewater passed through the structures called “treatment” at the plant, the concentration of harmful substances in them did not change. Moreover, the results of the examination show “record” results. The maximum permissible concentration for biological oxygen demand (BOD) exceeds the norm by 1200 times: instead of 2 mg/l - 2353 mg/l, and the maximum permissible concentration for chemical oxygen demand (COD) instead of the normal 30 mg/l is recorded 30 times more - 2358 mg/l.
In addition, experts note that samples “taken upstream of the Neverka River show that before the Ochakovsky brewery effluents got there, the water condition was normal.” The studies also confirmed that “the water has a characteristic brown color, a beer smell, is opaque, and contains high contents of chromium, iron, copper and other elements.” In a conversation with a Vremya Novostei correspondent, Oleg Mitvol continued to demonstrate the peculiarities of his sense of smell and claimed that even 10 km from the brewery a “pungent beer smell” could be felt. The deputy head of Rosprirodnadzor confirmed that now “we can talk with confidence about the source of pollution.” “We checked another large brewery on the same reservoir, but the examination established the exact culprit - the Ochakovsky brewery,” said Mr. Mitvol.
It is unlikely that this opinion will be agreed with at the plant itself, where from the very beginning they rejected the fact of leaks and assured that significant funds had been invested in the reconstruction of treatment facilities. Yesterday, the company had not yet received the results of analyzes conducted by Rosprirodnadzor. However, the press release distributed by the Ochakovo MPBK emphasizes: “We cannot consider the results of the analyzes objective, since the representative of Rosprirodnadzor initially had a rather biased attitude towards Ochakovo.” The brewers hope that an analysis of water samples conducted by experts independent of Mr. Mitvol will reveal the truth. They should be made public this week.
One way or another, the assessment of damage to the environment should be completed by the end of the week. According to Oleg Mitvol, if the court finds the brewers guilty, then “the fine for pollution on such a scale could be very large.” According to the deputy head of the environmental department, a significant increase in fines for environmental pollution should ultimately discourage enterprises “from trying to use rivers as sewers.”