"Golden" water Bodaibo

Residents of a city in the northeast of the Irkutsk region lived without heat for almost a month in the winter, and in the spring they were left without cold and hot water

In the unofficial “golden capital” of Siberia, there is, of course, precious metal. It is much more difficult here with water, heat and solving utility problems. The townspeople have not yet fully recovered from the February freezing of the water pipeline. Everything was so serious that it came to the point of initiating a criminal case into the accident. The head of the city, Botvin, was then among the main defendants and placed under house arrest. The press service of the regional prosecutor's office reported that Botvin was fined a ridiculous amount - 10 thousand rubles.

In March, another accident occurred in Bodaibo - hot water pipes burst. Part of the city was left without hot water, including a hospital and two kindergartens. A couple of months later, thunder struck again. On the night of May 9-10, residents of Bodaibo were left without central water supply. Not individual areas, but the entire city. The floating water intake station "Rosa" on Vitim found itself on land, it was literally pushed out of the river by ice floes. All city boiler houses stopped working. Kindergartens had to be closed and schools switched to distance learning. One can only guess about what happened in the hospitals - there is practically no information on this matter in the public field.

The mayor of Bodaibo asked the townspeople to be patient a little, promising that repairing the boiler house would only take a few hours. After which the situation began to develop according to a surreal scenario.

An official message from officials about the elimination of the accident has appeared. However, not all households received water. But there is still a question of who is luckier. The townspeople who received water could not use it. In a video taken by a local blogger, the water in the buckets is a desperately rusty color.

She's scared to wash herself, let alone drink! The emotional question “where did you get it?!” apparently addressed to officials. They, in turn, boldly advised the townspeople to stock up on drinking water in stores, after which it naturally became significantly more expensive. Regional authorities considered the best operational solution under the current conditions to be the delivery of drinking bottled water by plane from Irkutsk. Moreover, at the expense of Bodaibo’s budget. And this is neither more nor less - 3 million rubles.

We talked about the situation with the former mayor of the city, Alexander Dubkov.

“I can’t say for sure about the accident itself. But on May 9 the parade was completed, and on the 10th this problem already appeared. The city really has no cold water, no hot water and no heating.

- All?

- All. Because this is our only water intake.

— Are there any backup or emergency ones in case of such situations?

— There are no backup water intakes anywhere. Water intake can be carried out through the main pipeline and through the reserve one - this is how it is usually done. Our water intake itself is located in the river. This is a floating pumping station - pontoons on which there are pumps and equipment that pump water and supply it to the water treatment plant. After two stages of purification, water, brought to the requirements of SNiP, is supplied to the city population. It was this station, which is located on the river, that was put out of action by the ice drift.

— So the station was damaged by ice floes?

- Yes, the ice floes pushed her ashore. And they can’t remove the station back. Therefore, different ways to solve the problem are now being considered. It seems that a diesel pumping station was purchased, but it was already out of order. They will remove the backup pump and install it on the damaged station. Part of it is on the water and is taken in by a single pump.

— How long the restoration work will take, you can at least say approximately, you have encountered similar problems.

— I’m sure the station will not be restored.

— How will the city be provided with water in this case? And can the provision be established quickly?

- Of course, you can. In the first two days, I think everything could have been restored. And if they had operated normally... These are again operational errors ( they were also called one of the main reasons for the February freezing of the water pipeline. - O.P. ). Untimely preparations for the spring ice drift led to the station being washed ashore.

— So the emergency could have been prevented?

— The station could have been pushed out, but not significantly. We lived somehow before this, and this is not the first year that we have had ice drift.

— Have there been similar accidents before?

- Were. But not on such a scale, because preventive measures were taken and preparatory work was carried out normally. Everything is there: flexible hoses and flexible hoses, and there are spare pumps and devices for draining them in case of such a situation.

- So what is the problem now, in your opinion?

— My opinion is improper operation, inadequate control, untimely replacement of the pumping station.

— How will people be provided with water until the station operates normally? What was brought by plane, how long will it last?

- No matter how much, everything will be distributed within a day - to kindergartens, schools, hospitals, people with disabilities. If I were in their place and this issue was raised by the CoES ( Emergency Situations Commission - O.P. ), I would bring a couple of diesel pumping stations with a capacity of 500 cubic meters per hour - and this problem could be closed while repair work was carried out.

But there is one more point: according to documents, a new pumping station of the same type has been put into operation. And, in theory, it has been working since last December.

— Why “in theory”?

— We purchased equipment, the station itself, and delivered it all. But the terms of the contract included the manufacture, delivery and installation of equipment on site - exactly where the water intake is located. For some reason this was not done, but the acceptance certificate was signed. The possibility that she too could have been pulled ashore by ice is also not excluded - no one is immune from this. But the consequences would probably be less.

There is one more nuance: the administration has not completed the overhaul of the dam that protects the water intake. The contractor did not fulfill its obligations in full. And the administration signed a settlement agreement with him following a court decision

( a copy of the decision is in the editorial office - O.P. ). This is one of the reasons why the accident happened.

— Shouldn’t the administration be the first to be interested in the full repair of the dam, but it signs a settlement agreement with unfinished work. This is just nonsense.

- I’m shocked. I started this business, and JSC “Road Service of the Irkutsk Region” saw this contract ( negotiations between the administration of the Bodaibo State Enterprise and the JSC were conducted on an object called “Major repairs of the protective dam on the Vitim River.” - O.P. ). Then the contractors referred to the fact that they had no money. We filed a lawsuit and ordered the contractor to complete this work. But, you see, I haven’t worked in the administration since 2022, and the new management has concluded a settlement agreement with them (the contractors). There is a document in which an expert organization assessed that this length of the dam is enough to protect the water intake station from ice drift.

A copy of the conclusion is available in the editorial office, we will cite only one fragment from it: “Based on the results of observations of ice fields in April-May 2023, it was established that after major repairs, the dam copes with the load and provides sufficient protection for the Rosa floating pumping station.” Consequently, further backfilling work “lengthening and bending” is not required.”

— Thus, the experts considered that everything was in order with the dam. And then something went wrong?

— When we did this project, I went through fire, water and copper pipes. Seven circles of hell. This includes design, state environmental expertise, and construction expertise in Krasnoyarsk in order to get into the program. But here it was enough for some LLC to make a conclusion and make changes to the project. You are correct, the administration is not interested in him.

— Where could the diesel units you mentioned be delivered from?

- From Irkutsk by plane - just like they brought water. Buy diesel analogues from China, they will work fine.

— Why then did they bring bottles of water and not installations? Airplanes do not carry water; this is a temporary measure.

- I can’t say. There is a commission for emergency situations, and all its members have the right to vote. I wasn't there. And the people who work in the territory must first of all protect the interests of the population. So, everyone kept silent. The commission was again chaired by Igor Ivanovich Kobzev ( again, because a similar meeting, only about a frozen water pipeline, took place in the winter. - O.P. ). What did they decide there? Now it seems like the mayor came out and said that he didn’t ask to bring water because it was expensive, a liter - 600 rubles.

- And what next?

“I think now they will use one backup pump, which is available, to supply water to the city.” With constant interruptions and inadequate cleaning. It will not be of normal quality. The water will not even be conditionally potable (Rospotrebnadzor has such a wording), but conditionally technical. And the new station, which is supposedly already installed on land, will be thrown onto the water. When navigation starts, they will connect. I think all this will last at least until June 1st.