Russia (bbabo.net), - Yearly Crimea loses water. About 100 million cubic meters of poorly treated sewage is dumped into the sea, water bodies and soil, which could be used for the needs of agriculture. Meanwhile, for several years now, scientists have been offering the state a technology that could return these millions of cubic meters to circulation.

In the resort village of Nikolaevka, 500 local residents signed an appeal demanding a review of the project for the reconstruction of sewage treatment facilities (STP). The main thing that does not suit the Crimeans is the discharge of treated wastewater into the sea.

Local sewage treatment plants have been operating in the village since 1976, at the same time a deep-water outlet of a sewer pipe into the water area was provided, but for a quarter of a century it has not been working. The water remains in the storage pond.

- For 25 years nothing has been dumped into the sea, and we told all vacationers: come to us, our sea is clean. Now what should we say? - Alexander Dniprovy, a member of the village initiative group, is perplexed. - In our village a large park was laid out, but there is nothing to water it with. People are ready to water their gardens with this water. In today's situation, dumping fresh water into the sea is simply mismanagement.

The situation in Nikolayevka is typical. In all seaside towns and villages of Crimea, there are sewage treatment facilities built in the last century. During 2022-2024, 24 of them will be overhauled or rebuilt. However, effluents will still be dumped into the sea.

“The fact is that we, as scientists, do not even know what level of water purification is included in these projects,” says Nikolai Ivanyutin, an employee of the Research Institute of Agriculture of the Crimea and the Institute of Water Problems of the Russian Academy of Sciences. - It is quite possible that water in new buildings will not be suitable for irrigation.

The peninsula's annual wastewater volume is 120-150 million cubic meters. Only 25 million of them are used for crop irrigation. In Kerch, for example, wastewater is directed to the shallow Sea of ​​Azov, where there is no "dead layer" as in the Black Sea basin. At the same time, Crimean scientists have been proposing for several years to introduce a unique technology that could, at relatively low cost, return wastewater to economic circulation. The know-how does not replace, but complements the existing WWTF, removing nitrates, sulfates, chlorides and other hazardous compounds from wastewater after primary treatment. After that, the water is completely suitable for agricultural irrigation without harm to the environment and human health. In such water, fish live and breed perfectly.

- Our development is based on the use of biocermic granules. Water is purified in the course of the vital activity of bacteria, - said Vladimir Podoprigora, Candidate of Biological Sciences. - Relatively speaking, our purification pond is a large bioreactor. In its different zones, as in the valves of the heart, biochemical processes occur during the life of bacteria, and water, like blood in the human body, circulates between these departments.

Each zone of the reactor has its own type of bacteria - aerobic and anaerobic. Together they make it possible to decompose the organic substances contained in the water to nitrogen. The whole process is controlled by automation. The technology has been successfully implemented by private businesses for about 10 years.

- We sell the technology of bio-cleaning of ponds worked out by the Crimean scientists, quite a lot of such projects have already been implemented on the southern coast of the peninsula, in Simferopol, Bakhchisarai, Sevastopol, - says Vitaly Kalinin, director of the H2O company. - Its advantage is that it does not require further maintenance. A system of pipes and pumps is installed, bioceramic granules are applied once, and the bottom of the pond is the filter. There are no chemicals, there are no replaceable cartridges: I did everything. But we did not work it out at the treatment facilities.

Alas, the matter never came to the introduction of technology at the treatment facilities of the Crimea, although the idea was repeatedly discussed. The pilot project was supposed to be implemented at the WWTF in Pervomaisky District and in the village of Olenevka in the Chernomorsky District. When designing the reconstruction of the Simferopol embankment, they wanted to provide for three purification ponds for watering park areas.

- The project even passed public hearings, but then the mayor was replaced, and the purification ponds did not get into the final version of the reconstruction of the embankment, - recalls Vladimir Podoprigora.

Now there are 130 sewage treatment plants in Crimea. Over 100 of them are relatively small. The authors of the technology have a project ready for the village with a capacity of 1000 cubic meters of wastewater per day.

- Israel uses 75 percent of sewage, - says Nikolai Ivanyutin. - For those who include them in the economic turnover, there are benefits. But they have been going to this for 20 years. We also need to start with at least one or two pilot projects, and then project this experience.The problem of rational use of wastewater is relevant not in all regions of Russia, but only in the arid south. Crimea can and should become a pioneer in this direction. The expert proposes to approach the problem from the point of view of public-private partnership and to interest business with the help of incentives to introduce advanced water use technologies.

- First of all, we need political will, - says Vladimir Podoprigora.

It does not exist at the municipal government level, so all attempts to introduce innovations have been in vain. Scientists hope that the post-treatment project will be of interest to the head of the republic and Crimea will be able to implement at least one pilot project in the public utilities sector.

In the meantime, residents of Nikolaevka intend to fight for their future. They are interested in sewage treatment facilities in the village, but they insist on the preservation and use of treated wastewater in the economic circulation. They don't have any extra water.

Meanwhile

The Ministry of Housing and Communal Services of Crimea reported that they are not customers of the Nikolaevka WWTP and other similar facilities, therefore they do not have information either about the technical parameters of the stations, or about the possibility of using purified water there for municipal needs.

The Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources explained that the issues of public utilities (including water disposal) do not fall within their competence. According to the agency, in 2021, no accidents were registered in the waters of the Black and Azov Seas that could lead to an extensive spill of sewage and pollution. The quality control of the received wastewater treatment is carried out by accredited laboratories of resource-supplying organizations. Additionally, the quality of wastewater treatment is periodically monitored by the interregional department of Rospotrebnadzor. The environmental review of CBS projects is carried out by the Federal Service for Supervision of Natural Resources.

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