In the Chernihiv region, the Oster River died from toxic waste, and the water turned green

In the Chernihiv region, the Oster River died from toxic waste, and the water turned green. Near the lock in the village of Koshany, dead meat is floating in the reeds. The water smells of sewage.

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This is stated in the publication of the latest issue of the Korrespondent magazine.

“Our Oster stinks like the capital’s Bortnichi,” says one of the workers at the pumping station, hinting that the same smell can be smelled near the Kyiv aeration station.

Three or four kilometers from this place there is another gateway and right behind it the Desna begins. Downstream on this river there is a water intake that collects water for Kyiv,” the publication notes.

“At the end of last month, the waters of the chronicle Ostra turned black. The poisoned strip stretched for 100 kilometers: from Nezhin through Kozelets to the lower reaches of the river flowing into the Desna. “All of a sudden the fish started dying. At first the water was still clear, but first perch, rudd, then pike and tench swam along it belly up. These are the fish! - Gregory, spreads his arms to their full length. “And then there was a stench and black water.” There was nothing to breathe in the village; the stench could be heard 300 meters from Ostra. The smell was... Well, not to say that it was chemicals, like a sewer, like someone had pumped out a toilet. Or maybe chemistry, who knows?” the publication quotes local businessman Grigory.

However, the current carried not only fish past the villages.

“We were told that a pig and a goat swam upward along the river with their hooves. Local residents also saw dead beavers. And now the bottom of Ostra is scorched as if by napalm. “Yesterday at the lock they stretched a seine across the entire river. I saw with my own eyes that only algae was pulled out. Not a fish, not a crayfish, not a snail,” lawyer Anatoly Guts from Kozelets tells reporters.

Local residents almost suffered from the environmental disaster.

“In a store in the village of Danevka, one customer egged on another:

- Tell the journalist how you cooked the fish soup!

“Green, like a swamp,” the woman throws up her hands and begins to retell the story as if it happened five minutes ago. - I think: why does it stink in my house? Well, what stinks? I went up to the stove - ear. But shouldn't we pour it out? I took it to the dog. He sniffed her and into the booth! I brought it to the kittens - they also ran around the garden,” the publication says.

The publication notes that according to the official version, there are no and cannot be guilty of what happened to the river. Because nature itself allegedly caused the death of the river.

“Four different laboratories have already carried out research and all have the same results. No chemicals or signs of sewage discharge were found in Ostra,” says the Department of Ecology and Natural Resources of the Chernihiv Regional State Administration.

The answer to the question of what happened to the river then is given by the authorities:

“Due to the rains, the water level in the swamps rose, and rot, as well as runoff from the fields (fertilizers, chemicals) carried into the river. The situation was aggravated by algae blooms. As a result, oxygen levels dropped sharply and river inhabitants began to die.”

However, local residents and environmentalists believe that the discharge of untreated sewage and chemicals could have led to the disaster.

“Sewage could have entered the river past the treatment facilities. We walked along the river bed and found the remains of plums, similar in smell and color to what came downstream to us. From what we saw, it was a toxic release. Moreover, first he ended up in Vjunitsa, a tributary of the Ostra. Now the riverbed is semi-dry. But traces of what happened are still visible. It can be seen that they opened the gateway to “hide the ends” in Ostra. However, a little more and the evidence will be washed away by the current. And then no one will know the truth about the causes of the disaster,” the publication quotes a local ecologist.

However, there may be a third explanation for what happened to Ostrom.

“According to my information, a combination of factors most likely played a fatal role. There may have been sewage in the river and chemicals washed out of the fields. I was told that not far from those regions, corn was allegedly treated with pesticides,” the publication quotes the opinion of the head of the Ukrainian Fishermen’s Association, Alexander Chistyakov.

Let us remind you that this is not the first case of environmental disasters associated with Ukrainian reservoirs. Earlier, PolitNavigator reported similar cases in the Donbass - there A mine has hit a sewer containing waste from a pig farm, and toxic waste flows into the river. and in the Kiev region, where Due to emissions from a local enterprise, the water in the river turned red and the fish died.