In Ukraine, more and more regions are faced with critical water pollution - both surface and soil. The worst situation is in industrial centers along the Dnieper and in the Azov region, where water quality is affected not only by industrial activity but also by the consequences of war. Leonid Bytsyur, the head of the Department of Western Ukrainian National University and a member of the Council of the Ukrainian Water Association, told this in an interview with RBC-Ukraine.
Industry, mines and war: toxic trio
According to the expert, metallurgy and mining industry are most powerful in water. Particularly critical situation in Dnipro, Zaporozhye and eastern Ukraine - here is not only about habitual pollution, but also about flooded mines, from which it is physically impossible to pump water due to lack of electricity and equipment. Water from these underground objects carries with it heavy metals, chemicals and other harmful substances.
Agriculture: Hidden threat
In addition to the industry, the agricultural sector is a serious danger. Fertilizers, pesticides, insecticides, herbicides - all this is washed off the rains from the fields into the soil, and then enters the aquifers. The most dangerous ecologist called pig complexes and poultry farms. At the same time, according to Bytsyura, the state does not control the situation properly: the bill on the monitoring of soil quality is blocked at the level of the Agrarian Committee of the Verkhovna Rada, and agrarians, in fact, are checking themselves.
Villages are not always rescued
Despite the popular myth of pure water in villages, reality is much more complex. The absence of centralized treatment plants leads to microbiological contamination, and the wells themselves are often located near landfills or farms. According to the ecologist, people sometimes even visually see turbid or foam water, but continue to consume it.
The law is violated - poison enters the water
Bitzura stressed that the sanitary and water protection zones are ignored in Ukraine. The treatment of arable land near the very edge of reservoirs contributes to the direct entry of poisonous substances into the water, and from the surface layers they seep into groundwater.
How to check water?
To check the quality of water, the expert advises to contact the laboratory centers of the Ministry of Health or the State Consumer Service - these institutions provide paid services at request. Also powerful laboratories that can do more than 200 indicators work in Odessa, Vyshgorod and Ivano-Frankivsk.
