Moskva River leaves much to be desired in terms of cleanliness

MOSCOW (RIA Novosti commentator Tatiana Sinitsina)

 An oil slick a kilometer long and covering an area of 600 square metres in Mnevniki and a second massive discharge in Fili are not the worst that has happened to the Moskva River lately, believes Viktor Danilov-Danilyan, director of the Russian Academy of Sciences' Institute of Water Problems and Corresponding Member of the RAS.

Normally the source of a sudden massive pollution is spotted easily. And those guilty are punished by the environmental police and prosecutor's office, while the slick is removed by cleaning services.

"Far more dangerous is the chronic ailing condition of the river, which is seriously afflicted ecologically," the scientist stresses. "Untreated or partially treated wastes regularly dumped into the river contain absolutely everything they can contain and above all petroleum products. Additional dirt is contributed by storm generated effluents from city territory and, of course, sewage that is released into the Moskva in a random fashion - often without any treatment."

The river, which 858 years ago gave its name to a small Slav village destined to become the capital of Russia, is today dying from wastewaters of a 10-million megalopolis. "In hydrological terms it is a grave, phenomenal case," explains Danilov-Danilyan. "As the river enters capital boundaries, it contains several times less water than when it leaves them, this is a fact. The river 'swells' up with municipal effluents and from smaller internal streams (the Yauza and others), whose water can justifiably be called 'wastes of human vital activity.'"

Biological life in what scientists describe as an "extremely polluted" Moskva River is very depressed. There are practically no healthy animals left in the river as it exits from the capital. Tales of some monstrous mutants are, of course, exaggerated, these are simply sick individuals. Yet formerly the Moskva River boasted a good fauna - there were even sterlet and zander in it. Until it began to be polluted on a mass scale.

The water-protection zone of the Moskva River has many technologically obsolete sewage installations which leak a lot of dirt into the river. Industrial wastes start poisoning the Moskva River in Mozhaisk. Each succeeding town along its route only adds its own "contribution." The farms, as a rule, dump livestock and diffuse field wastes containing fertilizers and pesticides. But the city of Moscow is the greatest polluter of them all.

"The problem needs addressing immediately and vigorously by the city authorities, it is a sacred duty of the Moscow government," believes Danilov-Danilyan. "The first thing to be done is to treat wastes coming from city territory. It is high time to demand from industrial enterprises new quality standards of waste treatment."

The Moscow authorities are not sitting on their hands and do a lot in this respect. In spring, for example, they installed snow melters to thaw the snow and purify the water in the process. In the last two summers the bed of the Moskva River was twice cleaned, with 20 sunken ships raised. This is also a positive fact.

But the situation calls for cardinal measures. Hydrologists complain that their recommendations are not always followed concerning amounts of water released from the reservoirs to effect a riverbed clean-up. In this case the environmental interests clash with those of water users who want slow and measured water flow. But the riverbed needs cleaning, you cannot get away from it, scientists persist.

The health and welfare of the river depends heavily on the health of its catchment area. "It is an absolute disgrace that the region is still practicing clear or final felling. The practice needs to have been stopped long ago," believes Danilov-Danilyan. "If woods grow on the riverbanks they retain water coming down in precipitation and this water filters back into the river gradually, purified and rich in mineral salts. Otherwise the water quickly rolls down the surface, gathering dirt as it goes."

The world has ample experience of nursing polluted rivers back to environmental health. One needs only recall the Rhine, which but recently was called the "cesspool of central Europe." Today the Germans have "cured" it. Perhaps the Moskva River will be as lucky ...