Sludge lake. "White Sea" - a bad place near Dzerzhinsk

"White Sea" is a sludge reservoir of the former Caprolactam plant.
Commissioning date: December 1973
Purpose - storage of industrial sludge.
Useful design capacity - 4.13 million cubic meters. m;
Filled - 3.928 million cubic meters. (99.5% of the waste volume was generated in Soviet times);
Sludge storage area - 92.0 hectares;
Dam height - (7.5-8.0) m;
Closing date - March 2013
It stores waste residues of various salts, which determine the steel-gray appearance of the surface.

1. General view of the drive. Its area is not small, to be sure.

aerial view. The photo was taken by a bear who was shown this location once. Please note that 3 years ago the water was clearly visible. now it's dry.

2. Well, this heavenly office pleased us with a beautiful sky just before leaving.

3. Pipe with bridges. At first the pipe ended at that hillock. Over time, the pipe was extended further and further. It can be seen that the surface is overgrown - and very actively.

4. A local area where all the sprouted birch trees have dried out. It is difficult to say the reason - because they sprouted there.

5. The end of that same pipe.

6. An incomprehensible structure made of iron and thick logs, wrapped in rope.

7. Loop

8. And this is a kilometer from the White Sea - judging by the sight and smell - some petroleum products were dumped here en masse.

9. Passage is prohibited.

10. Villa on the eastern shore of the sea. There is a similar thing with photo No. 6. All the growth is already overgrowing the surface.

11. Pond between the sea and the plant. In all likelihood, it was used as a water storage tank for technical needs.

12. And life goes on.

13. And even on this basis. The trees stubbornly germinate. A little further away there was real undergrowth, through which we had to fight our way.

14. The promised apple tree on the White Sea dam. Apples are very tasty.

Now the fate of this object is being decided. Several liquidation projects have been put forward, but so far contractors are suing for the right to own a huge contract. If everything goes smoothly, work will begin this fall.

And my personal opinion.
I believe that the hype around the White Sea is artificially inflated. It just so happens that it benefits everyone. It does not cause any particular harm, the money for its elimination is fantastic (about 1 billion rubles), environmentalists receive money and grants, the wheel turns, everyone is happy with everything. And the fact that there is regular dust and phenolic pollution in the air of the city is not a fertile topic. Nobody gives a fuck about this.

Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………..3

Chapter 1. Theoretical aspects of a sludge reservoir as an environmentally hazardous object in the Nizhny Novgorod region………………………………….5

1.1. History of the White Sea slurry reservoir………………5

1.2. Contents of the “White Sea”……………………………………………7

…………………………………8

2.1. Proposals for the phased conservation of the “White Sea” slurry reservoir……………………………………………………………………………………………...8

2.2. The economic aspect of the liquidation of the “White Sea”……………………12

2.3. Expected result…………………………………………………….14

Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………….15

List of references………………………………………………………...17

Applications………………………………………………………………………………...18

Introduction

My native country is wide, there are many forests, rivers, lakes and seas in it. However, not all seas evoke delight, tenderness and joy. For example, “White Sea” in the city of Dzerzhinsk. The city of Dzerzhinsk is one of the centers of the chemical industry, with more than 30 industrial enterprises.

Our miracle worker, chemistry, produces all sorts of products: mineral fertilizers, caprolactam, plastics, pesticides, fatty alcohols and much more. And all this in one city, which has essentially been turned into a complete industrial site.

During the Great Patriotic War, explosives, bombs, and aircraft were produced in Dzerzhinsk, and chemical waste was dumped nearby.

The most polluted areas of the city are villages located in the zone of influence of the eastern group of enterprises, which make a significantly large contribution to soil pollution.

It is in Dzerzhinsk that the largest sludge dump in Russia and Europe is located, “White Sea”, located just 800 meters from the village of Igumnovo. According to various estimates, on an area of ​​92 hectares, from two to seven million tons of waste, including chemical, are stored.

The beauty here, of course, is monstrous: dazzling white sand, clear water. But what appears to be water is actually an alkaline solution. Environmentalists say that in the soil and water of the village of Igumnovo, excess concentrations of heavy metals were found: iron, cadmium, lead, mercury, copper.

The White Sea sludge storage tank was put into operation more than forty years ago and is currently 97% full. Since 2001, it has belonged to the Sibur-neftekhim enterprise, and is still used for its intended purpose. However, at present, waste discharges are quite insignificant compared to the Soviet period.

The purpose of the work is to consider the White Sea slurry reservoir as an environmentally hazardous object
Job objectives:
-Study the history of the sludge reservoir
-Analyze the composition of the “White Sea”
-Identify options for environmentally hazardous facilities

Chapter 1. Theoretical aspects of the White Sea slurry reservoir as an environmentally hazardous facility in the city of Dzerzhinsk, Nizhny Novgorod region

1.1. The history of the White Sea slurry reservoir

Ecology for Dzerzhinsk is a point of conflict of interests and an unhealed ulcer. So old, so difficult to treat, that many leaders have simply learned to speculate on it, the way street beggars speculate on photographs of their sick children.

The place where Dzerzhinsk now stands has long been popularly called Chernorechye - a remote corner 40 kilometers from Nizhny Novgorod, a trade giant on the Volga. In the middle of the 19th century, a railway was built into the depths of Chernorechye, and from then on, production began to grow here, and people flocked from the villages.

The Soviet government accelerated the industrial growth of Chernorechye, opening more and more factories and rebuilding the old ones. Thousands of peasants flocked to production: hunger was driving, and there was rationed bread at the factory.

In 1930, the Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, by its decision, approved the city of Dzerzhinsk on the map of the country, which occupied the area of ​​​​many former Chernorechensk villages. Today, about 240 thousand people live in the city and its surroundings.

The 20th century, with its arms race, gave Dzerzhinsk fundamental importance for the country. During the war, a wide range of weapons were produced here - explosives, bombs, aircraft shells. Military chemicals, of course: phosgene, mustard gas, lewisite, chlorine, hydrocyanic acid. Each of the plants, in addition to products for the needs of the defense industry, also produced a significant amount of chemical waste.

As a rule, they were dumped nearby. Thus, in particular, the White Sea sludge storage facility was formed.

The White Sea sludge storage tank is a hydraulic structure built in 1973 for the disposal of chemical waste. The object is a large artificial bowl, built in the ground and reinforced with a dam.

1.2. Contents of the "White Sea"

The White Sea contains about 7 million tons of chemical production waste, among which, environmentalists fear, there is first-class hazard waste. However, according to the official version, “the waste contained in the White Sea belongs to the fourth hazard class and is characterized as “low-hazard.”

Almost 60% of the total volume is water, the rest is non-toxic, low-hazard mixtures of insoluble salts, mainly carbonates.” (Annex 1)

Today the area of ​​the sludge reservoir is 55 hectares, its depth is about 9 meters. The contents of the “White Sea” look like a white pasty mass with a yellowish tint, in some places liquid and in others almost frozen. The sludge tank is 97% full, of which 93% was filled back in Soviet times before the Kaprolactam plant was transferred to the ownership of Sibur-Neftekhim. The river is reliably protected from direct hits by a dam. Meanwhile, solid sludge undoubtedly poses a danger to the environment.

Chapter 2. Ways to eliminate the “White Sea”

2.1. Proposals for the phased conservation of the White Sea slurry reservoir

"White Sea" is a waste storage facility organized in an authorized manner. Despite the fact that the operating organization declares compliance with environmental requirements during its maintenance, the very fact of the existence of this object already poses an environmental hazard. Specialists from various departments and public ecologists have different assessments of the degree of its negative impact on the environment, from acceptable impacts to extremely dangerous ones. Some link the excess of chemicals in groundwater to this object, others explain this by the overall influence of enterprises in the industrial zone of Dzerzhinsk.

Representatives of SIBUR emphasized that, despite the fact that the White Sea was largely filled back in the Soviet years, the company does not shy away from participating in the fate of the sludge reservoir and is ready to finance work on its conservation or processing of sludge into construction products.

Currently, SIBUR is racking its brains over what to do with the White Sea: preserve it or recycle it? Three options for solving the problem of the sludge reservoir were considered: to recycle it into something, transport it somewhere, or preserve it on site to minimize harm. Both of them cost colossal amounts of money - we are talking about hundreds of millions of rubles. So the main direction in which both the plant and the administration of Dzerzhinsk are working with complete confidence is “demythologizing the White Sea object.”

Conservation will include removing sludge sediment from the area adjacent to the storage tank, leveling its surface, creating a drainage system and creating a vegetation cover at the final stage of work. The work is expected to last four years and should begin after the completion of state and environmental assessments.

But how can you think about money when we are talking about the ecology of the environment and the lives of people living in the Nizhny Novgorod region.

SIBUR is ready to consider both options. In particular, according to him, a conservation project has already been ordered, while a search is underway for ways to process sludge. Both options are costly, so for the company this is not a financial, but a reputational investment.

The obsolete chlorine production facilities of the former Caprolactam plant are gradually being closed and will be finally decommissioned. The production site with the existing infrastructure is being repurposed into the Oka-Polymer technology park, in which external residents are involved who plan to create and develop environmentally friendly business areas. According to the project, the White Sea sludge storage facility as a facility for disposal of liquid industrial waste will be eliminated through conservation. At the same time, it is necessary to carry out a set of measures to improve its environmental safety and minimize the impact on the environment. The facility will be freed from sludge water, the existing discharge pipeline for clarified sludge water will be dismantled. The supply of new waste will stop, the moisture content of the already accumulated sludge will be reduced to an average value of 45-55%, which will make it non-flowing.

The entire territory of the slurry reservoir will be penetrated by a network of earthen ramparts one meter high and three meters wide along the ridge. This will allow the “White Sea” to be divided into 12 compartments (maps) of 4-5 hectares each. A surface drainage system will be created - plastic perforated pipes with a diameter of 110 and 160 millimeters will be laid on the surface of the compartments (cards), which form reservoir drainage. Wells with shut-off valves will be built at the map nodes. Anti-landslide measures will also be carried out, the sludge storage dams will be strengthened, which will eliminate the possibility of a hydrodynamic accident occurring and developing. In addition, it is necessary to build an additional waterproofing screen, which will avoid the filtration of atmospheric precipitation into the body of the sludge reservoir. The technical stage of conservation will be completed by the biological one - biomats will be laid on the surface of the sludge reservoir over an area of ​​55 hectares, which will form a continuous green lawn. Upon completion of conservation, work will be carried out to control and monitor groundwater (level, qualitative composition), surface water (from the drainage system) and vegetation (grass) cover.

Two alternative options for eliminating the White Sea - by processing the sludge or moving it to another place, according to experts, are currently more environmentally dangerous than the conservation option. To date, there are no technologies that can completely recycle the White Sea sludge.

For the waste remaining after partial processing, the construction of a new sludge storage facility would be required on an area of ​​at least 7-8 hectares. In addition, the process of partial processing of sludge itself takes

less than 40 years would inevitably have a direct negative impact on the environment (air emissions, groundwater pollution).

The option of moving the White Sea waste to another location would require the construction of a new sludge storage facility on an area of ​​at least 15 hectares.

2.2. Economic aspect of liquidation of the White Sea sludge storage pond

As Sergei Khlopov, General Director of Sibur-Neftekhim OJSC, said, the cost of mothballing the White Sea slurry reservoir in the industrial zone of the city of Dzerzhinsk, Nizhny Novgorod region will be about 1 billion rubles.

In June 2011, Dmitry Medvedev, as president, set the task for Sibur-Neftekhim OJSC to gradually liquidate the White Sea slurry reservoir on the territory of the Kaprolaktam plant.

According to Deputy Governor of the Nizhny Novgorod Region Vladimir Lebedev, the work will be financed from the federal and regional budgets, as well as from Sibur-Neftekhim.

As reported by the press service of the mayor's office of the city of Dzerzhinsk, Sibur-Neftekhim will transfer the White Sea slurry reservoir to the ownership of the administration of Dzerzhinsk, Nizhny Novgorod region.

In the event of the earliest possible transfer of the sludge reservoir to municipal ownership, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Ecology of the Russian Federation guarantees the inclusion of the necessary amount of funds for its subsequent liquidation in the draft federal budget.

To resolve the important issue of eliminating the environmental damage accumulated during the Soviet era, Sibur announced the phased closure of chlorine production at the former Caprolactam plant.

The phased shutdown of facilities began in 2012 and will continue until it is fully implemented, which will allow the process of stopping production to be carried out as safely as possible. Closure measures will be implemented in close cooperation with the authorities of the Nizhny Novgorod region

region and Dzerzhinsk under the control of the regional department of Rostechnadzor.

Stopping chlorine production will lead to a complete cessation of discharges into the sludge reservoir, known among residents of the region as the “White Sea”. At the same time, Sibur, together with federal, regional and local authorities, will continue to work on the conservation of the facility.

Today, the White Sea slurry reservoir is used for its intended purpose. SIBUR and its subsidiary SIBUR-Neftekhim, which directly operates this engineering structure, maintain its technical condition in full compliance with the requirements of the project and BP Rules 03-438-02. Control over the operation of the sludge reservoir is carried out by government agencies - Rostechnadzor, Rosprirodnadzor, Rospotrebnadzor.

2.3. Expected result after mothballing the White Sea

According to the bright plans of the head of Dzerzhinsk for the reclamation of the White Sea slurry reservoir, famous throughout the region, a golf course can be built in its place in the city, for which it is necessary to remove the top layer of soil and fill the sea with special materials.

The conservation of the landfill is planned to be completed by 2015, and now the authorities are considering projects to improve the area.

Infrastructure development should affect the entire industrial zone of the “city of chemists”. The Caprolactam plant ceases operations and an industrial park is formed on its premises.

According to Jurgen Tsigelsky, production director of the industrial park resident company, this site is suitable for them for production, since it is located close to the place where they will supply products and there will be no problems with labor and personnel.

Soon these workshops will produce components for foreign cars. Automotive components are planned to be supplied to car factories in Nizhny Novgorod and Kaluga. Production should become another link in the regional automotive cluster. A petrochemical cluster will also be developed here. Currently, 10 companies have already signed a contract with the management of the industrial park, and another 70 are negotiating.

They decided to attract new investors here so that the base created decades ago would not go to waste. There are already all the necessary communications, gas and electricity - everything for new technologies to start working in the old workshops.

Conclusion

But independent environmentalists do not share the official optimism, since conservation means that the “White Sea” will remain on the territory of the urban district for an indefinite period, and in a potentially dangerous state for the environment. At the same time, a detailed assessment of the environmental impact of the mothballed sludge reservoir was not carried out at all. According to the executive director of the environmental organization “Vyunitsa” Vladimir Orekhov, only its impact on the environment during the construction of the sarcophagus was assessed, and even then a very limited composition of potential pollutants was studied. Film and biomats will indeed reduce the negative impact on the environment for some time, but it is very likely that after some time the planned protection will be destroyed.

This can be facilitated by the root system of trees, which quite possibly will grow there as a result of self-seeding, the passage of equipment and many other factors.

“Elimination through conservation,” according to Vyunitsa employees, is a deception of the public, creating in people the illusion of solving a problem that can cost us dearly.

It is environmental pollution that causes higher morbidity among city residents.*

Currently, the object is monitored by the MBU “Ecological Systems of Dzerzhinsk”, consisting of several people who take water samples. The distribution area of ​​the pollution is 1.9 kilometers. It is known that the project for eliminating the sludge reservoir, after eliminating all the comments of the working group, will be sent for a second state examination.

Experts, meanwhile, warn that it is practically impossible to determine the exact degree of environmental pollution and the damage caused to the city’s ecology.

The Nizhny Novgorod public organization “Center for Environmental Action “Green Patrol” proposed concluding a cooperation agreement within the framework of public control over the implementation of the Federal Target Program “Elimination of accumulated environmental damage for 2014 - 2015.”

The liquidation of the White Sea slurry reservoir should be undertaken by SMP-Stroy LLC, which promises to complete the entire scope of work by November 30, 2015 for 830 million rubles.

The city authorities encourage everyone who is concerned about environmental safety issues to contact the reception.

Now there is increased attention to environmental issues in Dzerzhinsk, and this is good.

The need to maintain good health and high performance of city residents increases the requirements for environmental quality.

I, as a young resident of the city, am pleased that people are concerned about the ecological state of the natural environment and are ringing all the bells to improve it.

Bibliography.

1. Bylov A.M., Chernova N.I. “General Ecology” M.: Bustard, 2004.
2. Mavrishchev S.S. “Fundamentals of Ecology” 3rd ed., Spanish. and additional - Minsk: Higher School, 2007.
3. Pustovoitov V.V., Sitarov V.A. “Social ecology” M.: Publishing center “Academy”, 2000.
4. Razumova E.R. “Ecology” M.: MIEMP, 2010.

Internet resources:

www.gorky.tv
http://www.new chemistry .ru/letter.php?n

http://qotyda.ru/index.php/novosti/novosti biznesa i economiki/item/7163-2015-12-02%2018-15-37

http://zmdosie.ru/otkhody/situatsiya/5 00- dzerzhinsk-beloe-more

http://zmdosie.ru/otkhody/situatsiya/815-dzerzhinsk-obrastaet-svalkami

Annex 1

Fig. 1 Diagram of impurity content in the White Sea slurry reservoir

Related information.

Bad things often have an even more fascinating effect on people than good things. Don't believe me? Then tell me, why do people watch horror films when they can watch a comedy? Real horror attracts, sometimes you can’t take your eyes off it, just like the most exquisite work of art. To see with my own eyes something I don’t even want to think about, to touch a hostile environment, to experience something unusual - it was these thoughts that pushed my brother and I to visit one of the largest and most famous toxic waste repositories in Europe - the White Sea near the city of Dzerzhinsk. I invite you to a photo tour of the site.

Why is the White Sea called that?

One has only to look at the map in landscape display mode, and the question disappears on its own:

Looking at the map, you yourself can easily understand where the name “White Sea” comes from. This object stands out sharply against the general green background. It was here, into this sedimentation tank, that waste from chemical production in the city of Dzerzhinsk, Nizhny Novgorod region, was dumped for many years. Once upon a time, back in Soviet times, Dzerzhinsk was the prosperous capital of Soviet chemistry, working for the whole country. A large number of industries were concentrated here, including the production of chemical weapons.

Unfortunately, at present, many enterprises have practically stopped, and those who are still somehow trying to fight for existence have more pressing tasks than caring about the correct disposal of hazardous toxic waste.

It is much easier to make a kind of trough, surrounded on all sides by an earthen rampart, and pour all sorts of rubbish into it for years. Over the years of operation of the storage facility, more than 2 million cubic meters of sludge have accumulated here - a powdery substance, chemical production waste, including (!) organic matter. The storage area is 54 hectares. Depth - about 8 meters.

We headed to this pleasant place. According to rumors, the White Sea will eventually be mothballed somehow, so it was necessary to have time to film all the horror before it was covered with some kind of “cape”.

How to get to the White Sea near Dzerzhinsk

I want to say right away that it is quite possible to get directly to the slurry reservoir by car. Of course, you should choose dry weather for the excursion, since part of the route will have to be done on a dirt road. In the rainy season it becomes limp.

The easiest way is to use the so-called Avtozavodskoe highway, between Dzerzhinsk and Nizhny Novgorod, which runs parallel to the railway. Here (56.247218,43.553842) using the viaduct you need to cross to the other side of the railway and drive along the Eastern Highway for about 3 kilometers towards Nizhny. Then turn right onto Port Highway. Along it you find yourself in the village of Igumnovo.

In the village we turn right onto Tolstoy Street, then turn left onto the street. Suvorov, and then right onto Sadovaya.

Of course, this is far from the only way you can drive through the village. Just by following this route you will move a little more on asphalt instead of dirt in other cases.

Further. If you have a map open, you can look and choose an option on how to get to the dirt road leading to the White Sea. In principle, you can leave your car in the village and walk. We got almost to the place.

The road looked something like this:

This area doesn’t look that scary yet, but there are places where you need to be more careful. There are holes, puddles, in a word, everything that should be at the entrance to a bad place.

Along the way you will see quite large lakes. From a distance they even look somewhat picturesque, but upon closer inspection it becomes clear that this is not a place to relax:

Sinister beauty! Especially when there are leaden clouds in the sky.

In fact, these are former sand quarries from which material was taken for the construction of the burial dam. Over time, they naturally filled with water. This is how the lakes turned out. The worst thing is that there are fish there (poor fish), which are caught almost en masse by local fishermen. And then they sell it in the markets in dried form. Brrr! I haven’t bought one like this before, and now I certainly won’t.

And, what seems completely wild, just 800 meters from the burial ground is the village of Igumnovo. The same one we passed through. People live there, they bring their children there for the summer. On nature! And it would be nice if there were only houses of old-timers in the village, who, sometimes, simply have nowhere to go. But why are they building large modern cottages there? That is, some people purposefully want to settle here! Settle down!

On the one hand, it’s strange. On the other hand, it is possible that the environmental danger of the burial ground is greatly exaggerated. Well, yes. They dump some waste there. But maybe they have already been purified and are not so dangerous? Moreover, they are behind the dam. Let's leave the answer to this question for later, but now we are already approaching our destination:

The road begins to climb up to the dam. Naturally, there is some garbage lying around. At some point we cross the Volosyanikha canal. It goes around the White Sea and flows for several more kilometers. At some stage it flows into the Gnilichka River. It flows past the dachas in the village of Nagulino and flows into the Oka. Moreover, not far from the so-called Striginsky pine forest - a place where people go to “breathe and swim.” Naturally, without any cleaning. Would you like to swim in the Oka? How about getting water from a well in the villages of Igumnovo or Nagulino?

The stench here is terrible. There is no doubt that there is some kind of chemistry in the water. Staying here even for one minute is not a test for subtle natures. It becomes scary that some people work all their lives at nearby chemical plants and breathe this constantly.

The White Sea sedimentation dam is an almost fundamental structure. Its height ranges from 8 to 10 meters. From below, the earthen ramparts are reinforced with reinforced concrete slabs to prevent the structure from spreading.

When we go up, we can see two different worlds at once. One is the one we are used to (on the left in the photo):

But if you look to the right...

Now you will see some of the most colorful photographs of the White Sea and then I will give some explanations:

Yes everything is correct. To get such photos we went down to the SURFACE. What appears to be soil is actually the upper part of a multi-meter layer of toxic waste that has accumulated here since ancient Soviet times. The surface is loose. A bit like sand on the beach. When moving, the leg sinks approximately the thickness of the sole. The color of the surface is very accurately conveyed in the photographs. In this part of the burial ground it is gray.

It’s just amazing, but plants grow here too. Even birch trees. True, very low. Longitudinal dents in the ground are traces of some desperate young men who once organized motorcycle races here. Judging by the slightly frayed edges of the tracks, they are already several years old.

On the other side of the White Sea are buildings of chemical plants. If it weren't for the wind that swayed the leaves on the plants, the landscape would be completely motionless. Just some abandoned planet.

Silence. Sun. Almost a peaceful picture. And there is no special smell in the air. Probably all these rumors about the dangers of chemical waste are pure fiction.

However, very soon I became convinced that this place was actually very deceptive.

We climb back onto the dam and begin to move along it, bypassing the burial ground in a westerly direction. There is a two-track dirt road running along the very top, so you can quite comfortably walk side by side, discuss what you saw, and share your impressions.

First there was a smell. It was very unusual, a bit reminiscent of the smell of the developer that amateur photographers used to use to print photographs. The further we went, the more unpleasant it became to be here. We decided to go a little further and then decide what to do next.

By that time, the nature of the surface of the White Sea had also changed. It became more like beach sand than a cracked desert. Apparently, this is where the waste has been dumped lately - hence the smell. And here it is, confirmation of the assumption. You see the white pipe on the left side of the photo - this is the mouth of the drain:

Many white gulls walked along the shore and even tried to swim on the water surface. Almost an idyll: a lake, a sandy beach, silence - just a vacationer's dream. However, don't be fooled. Once on the surface of the White Sea, rain ceases to be ordinary water, but turns into a toxic mixture.

No wonder there are corpses of seagulls and ducks lying on the sand here and there, pay attention to the foreground:

These unfortunate birds paid for the fact that they could not read the signs on which it was written in black and off-white:

They sit on the sand en masse and walk along it. For birds, the White Sea looks exactly the same as the sand spits on the Oka or Volga. But once you get into the water and...

Trying to move towards the water, my brother almost got sucked into the sand (or what is that?). In a word, the White Sea is very deceptive and fraught with considerable dangers. Don't be fooled by this calm appearance. This is a place that smells of death.

I found a photo on the Internet that I would also like to show you:

Apparently this was taken in the spring after the snow had melted. Apparently, at times there really is a lot of liquid in the White Sea. And it's so transparent! You just want to run up and jump into... the water? No, my friends, this is not water, but lye. You'll probably jump!

Deciding to complete our walk around the perimeter of the burial ground, we moved on and soon passed the factory buildings that you saw in previous photographs on the other side.

There were lakes along the way. According to environmentalists, the water in them is salty. Don't worry, I didn't check. Of course, I'm crazy, but not to that extent. But the naked eye can see that there are no algae in the water. They probably can't stand it.

The road along the perimeter of the White Sea is approximately 3.5 kilometers long. The complete tour took us two hours. Not because we walked “leg in front”, we just stopped often to take photographs.

But now, the detour is over, it’s time to say goodbye to the White Sea. I hope forever.

This place evokes very conflicting feelings. During the trip we did not meet a single person. Silence, peace, like in a cemetery. The bright sun gives the picture a special positivity. I can’t even believe that there is so much nastiness here that if it spills out, it will be very, very hard for all of us. Later, at home, I measured the distance from my house to the White Sea, and I became thoughtful. In a straight line, only 16 kilometers.

Now I have stopped loving the west wind, which blows directly into the windows. After all, these air currents swept over the White Sea just an hour or two ago. But I thought that all this was somewhere far away and “won’t reach us.”

But okay, 16 kilometers. But the fact that people live practically next to this place, fish in reservoirs, take water from wells, plant carrots and potatoes in the soil... As experts have found out, permissible concentration levels, for example, mercury in water are exceeded by 1000 ( !) times, dusta - 100 times. Iron, cadmium, lead, mercury, copper - you just can’t find it in the garden beds in nearby villages.

How can you now look at the grandmothers who sell vegetables “from their garden” at the market? Where is the guarantee that this vegetable garden is not located in Igumnovo, or Kolodkino, or Babyevo? From these settlements the White Sea is just a stone's throw away. As they say, within walking distance.

How do you like the idea of ​​living in cottage villages Sosnovy Bor or Molodezhny, which is three kilometers southwest of the burial ground? I understand that real estate sellers will very quickly assure you that there is nothing wrong with this neighborhood, that the wind usually blows “from the wrong direction,” that some people live closer and “nothing.” But, for example, the Sinyuchka canal, which originates from Gniloye Lake near the burial ground, flows into the Oka just a kilometer from these villages. Can you imagine what you will be swimming in?

But White Sea- this is far from the only burial ground near Dzerzhinsk. There are others too. Just take a close look at the map in satellite mode and you will find a few more bad spots, albeit of a smaller size. And the fact that they are located in closed areas leaves us with plenty of scope for imagination about their contents.

Goodbye White Sea. I hope forever

During the two hours that we were near the White Sea, no noticeable internal changes occurred to us. My head just started to hurt. But, it seems to me, this is more likely from a psychological mood. If they had told me that unused raw materials from the production of chocolates are dumped here, perhaps I would have treated the White Sea differently. But the mere realization that you had just walked through many meters of toxic waste, breathed poisonous gases, took the walk out of the category of pleasant.

Just because the air doesn't smell like anything doesn't mean it's clean. Many substances that abound in the burial ground have no odor at all or it is very weak. So, if you want to look at the White Sea for yourself, try to make sure that the wind does not blow from it towards you, but vice versa.

Let's leave. One more photo to say goodbye. It is taken from the eastern part of the dam. The White Sea is behind me.

This photo report is dedicated to the place where I never want to go again. Memories of him are like a bad dream that you want to forget as soon as possible. This is the White Sea. No, not what washes the northern shores of our continent! This is also the name of a sludge reservoir, and in simple terms - an enormous stinking pond, spread over an area, according to various sources, from 50 to 92 hectares near the city of Dzerzhinsk.

This is what the White Sea looks like from a satellite. At the same time, you can follow the map on how to get there. The nearest settlement is the village of Igumnovo.

What does it really look like?

A lifeless desert, as if scorched by the sun, with stunted bushes of grass and low trees, as if in the tundra. The soil is loose - you walk and fall through. Not much, about the depth of the sole, but still the feeling is not pleasant - every time you are tormented by a vague premonition that you might fall into the void. In some places there are traces of some kind of wheeled equipment - apparently, someone was riding an ATV.

When shooting with a fish-eye lens, you get the impression that you are on another planet - similar to the earth, but completely lifeless, as if some kind of man-made disaster had happened on it or all living organisms had been affected by some kind of virus. All that remains are half-withered plants and long-abandoned man-made structures. And on the horizon there are factories, factories, factories - also abandoned. The first thing that comes to mind when you see this landscape is the planet Plyuk from Georgy Danelia’s film “Kin-dza-dza”

Post-apocalyptic landscape. There's not enough pepelats in the sky :)

During the rains, puddles appear in the White Sea, but this is no longer water, but a solution of pesticides.

The type of water attracts waterfowl - gulls, ducks. They sit on it, dive and... there was a bird and after some time there is no bird - the shores of the “White Sea” are strewn with the corpses of seagulls and ducks.

As you approach the water, the soil under your feet becomes very treacherous. While you stand motionless, nothing happens, but as soon as you walk, your legs begin to get sucked into a quagmire! Let's not tempt fate, let's go closer to the shore out of harm's way - we wouldn't want to drown in SUCH a place!

While I was taking this shot, I drowned in 5 seconds almost up to my ankles

We walked around the entire perimeter of the White Sea, it took about 2 hours including photography. The sludge reservoir is surrounded by an earthen rampart about 8 meters high, and we walked along it. On the other side of the shaft there are often streams and small lakes. In lakes the water is clear and the bottom is visible; apparently, no algae can withstand such an aggressive environment.

And the White Sea is also skirted by the very “fragrant” Volosyanikha River, which, winding for a long time, flows into the Gnilichka River, which, in turn, flows into the Oka near the beach of Striginsky Bor - a favorite vacation spot for car manufacturers. Sewage treatment plants? No, we haven't! Of course, I have heard many times that the Dzerzhinsky factories pollute the Oka, but now I am clearly convinced of this. Now I personally have lost all desire to swim in the Oka! And buy dried fish caught in the Oka.

And right next to the White Sea there is a fairly large lake - a former quarry from which sand was extracted for the construction of an embankment. The lake is very popular among Igumnovsky fishermen.

The fish that live in this lake, presumably, are also thoroughly saturated with chemical rubbish, but this does not stop anyone. They catch it for themselves and, probably, for sale in dried form.

Another sad fact - just 800 meters from the White Sea there is a fairly large village of Igumnovo, where people live and are not particularly “worried” about the proximity to this disastrous place - vegetables and potatoes are grown in the gardens, fish are caught in the lake, in the copses mushrooms are collected. Despite the fact that anyone understands that groundwater contains many “additives” that do not add health.

This is how the story turned out. But the saddest thing is that the White Sea is not the only “stinker” in the area. There is also the “Black Hole” - a karst lake into which liquid waste from the Plexiglas plant is poured. If the sludge reservoir is at least somehow isolated from the environment - there is a clay bedding and embankment, then the water from the Black Hole, saturated with the not best part of the periodic table, slowly seeps into the ground through karst passages. Underground rivers of groundwater also flow towards the Oka and fill wells and boreholes in Petryaevka, Kolodkino, Babino. They also say that if they raise the water level at the Cheboksary hydroelectric station, the groundwater will also rise and carry this chemical crap en masse into all nearby bodies of water - lakes and rivers, and this is already an environmental disaster!

Artem Kashkanov

Photographer, webmaster, teacher, freelancer. I love traveling by car and more. I also love mountain biking, saunas, fishing, and mushroom picking.

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