Desna pollution: the water will soon reach the Kyiv region, but the situation is under control

Contaminated water from the Desna River may reach the Kyiv region approximately on September 14-16.

This was reported by the press service of the Ministry of Environment.

All services are working to stabilize the situation. If water quality deteriorates, "Kyivvodokanal" will adjust technological processes so that drinking water quality indicators meet the requirements. However, the Ministry of Environment emphasizes that there are no such risks today.

Experts regularly monitor water in the Seimas and Desna, in particular in the area of the capitalʼs drinking water intakes. So far, drinking water samples taken at control points of Kyivʼs centralized water supply have not found any exceedances of sanitary-chemical and bacteriological indicators.

What about the water in Desna

As of the morning of September 10, the pollution has moved approximately 191 kilometers (near the village of Shestovitsa, Chernihiv region) from the place where the Seim flows into the Desna. Visual pollution is visible in spots, it is heterogeneous.

In the area of Shestovytsia village, there is a darkening of the water, a specific smell, accumulation of shallow fish under the shore, isolated cases of fish deaths. Downstream signs of pollution are not recorded.

In the area of the city of Chernihiv, the situation is improving, there are only a few cases of fish deaths.

In general, along the Desna in the Chernihiv region, pollution moves along the riverbed. The worst indicators are in the villages of Boromyki and Chernihiv. The content of dissolved oxygen in Desna in the Boromyk district decreased to 0.26 mgO2/dm³ (the norm is 4 mgO2/dm³).

In some localities, experts record an excess of iron and manganese in the water, but they call it typical for this time of year.

In the Seim River in the Sumy and Chernihiv regions, the situation is gradually improving — the content of dissolved oxygen is slowly increasing, but it is still below the norm.

Over the last day, 25 kilograms of dead fish were collected and disposed of in the territory of Chernihiv. No fish were recorded in the Sumy region.

What preceded

Pollution of Desna has been reported since the end of August. Fish died en masse in the river, and the water turned black.

The pollution started from the Seim River, which is a left tributary of the Desna and flows through, in particular, the Kursk region of the Russian Federation, where hostilities are ongoing.

The State Water Agency noted that Seim and Desna are indeed polluted, but this is organic pollution, chemical or highly toxic substances are not recorded there.

On September 9, the acting mayor of Chernihiv Oleksandr Lomako said that the pollution of the rivers was caused by the Russiansʼ destruction of water treatment facilities in the Kursk region.