Our days have shown a sufficient amount of frivolous attitude of mankind to the environment. Unfortunately, in only one past century, people were able to destroy seventy percent of the biological systems of our Earth that are capable of processing waste products. By the way, this destruction has not stopped to this day.
Thus, the number of territories with negative changes in the environment is increasing throughout the Russian Federation. Not only the degradation of the area, but also a violent change in the ecological environment. In addition, in such areas there is a strong deterioration in the health of the local population.
What are environmental disaster areas?
Let's start with the official definition adopted in Russia. An ecological disaster zone is those territorial areas where irreparable results have occurred due to human or other activities that disrupted the original state of the environment, brought worsening effects on human health, and also destroyed the natural balance.
If the state declares an ecological disaster zone regime in one of its territories, then all activity in this area ceases, the operation of economic facilities is frozen, except for those providing the minimum life needs of the population living there. Any construction, reconstruction is categorically prohibited.
The difference between the two zones
In addition to environmental disaster zones, there are also emergency zones. The latter are announced when the negative impact on the environment becomes permanent and fairly sustainable. Such situations begin to threaten the health of the living population, animals and plants. In this case, immediate work is required to restore the natural balance and reproduction of the natural environment.
In fact, the difference between the two named zones is insignificant, the main point is that the environmental disaster has irreversible consequences. However, a clear line is still missing.
Water surface problems
Most disasters occur due to the negligent attitude of a person to his duties or responsibility to a particular situation. Just one small mistake can take thousands of lives. So, an oil spill, a dangerous gas leak, or forest fires are often the fault of a particular individual.
Perhaps the most famous Russian ecological disaster zone is the territory of the former Aral Sea. Many species of marine fish and plants have been extinct here for 30 years, and the water level has dropped by 14 m. Most of the Aral Sea has dried up and now is a desert part covered with a thick layer of sand.
Scientists are working to restore this natural zone, but success is not yet visible. This area suffers from a shortage of drinking water, as if it were not in the Russian Federation, but in the midst of African problems. The terrain of the Aral Sea is on the verge of the death of a huge ecosystem, and this will be a disaster of the planetary range.
And in 1999, the flora and fauna of the Elburgan reserve were completely destroyed in connection with a change in the beds of Siberian rivers. A similar problem arose after their transfer to Chinese territories. The Black Sea also fell under the criterion of ecological disaster zone.In 2016, an oil leak occurred, in connection with which dozens of dolphins, many populations of marine inhabitants and fish died in the water area. The ecosystem of the sea was in a deep crisis, and because of a huge oil spill a real scandal erupted.
Oil problems
Many consider the achievements of science and scientists a great leap forward in the development of our civilization, but there is an opinion that we are not so developed, since we allow ourselves to kill our planet.
How many oil disasters have been and how many will be. On the territory of Russia, Usinsk was once declared a zone with an ecological emergency and environmental disaster. As a result of the breakdown and breakthrough of the pipeline in several places, more than 100 thousand tons of oil product spilled from the pipes. Due to the incident, flora and fauna were almost exterminated, and the land received the title of ecological disaster zone.
But such examples do not stop people, and mistakes continue to multiply. In 2003, another breakthrough of oil pipes occurred, as a result of which the Mulimya River received a lethal dose of black liquid of 10 thousand tons. Naturally, the entire ecosystem was destroyed. And about this area we can say that this is an environmental disaster zone.
The next serious disaster occurred in 2006 near Bryansk. Ten thousand square kilometers were covered with an oil cover of 5 tons. Due to non-compliance with the operating standards, the next pipe of the Druzhba oil pipeline became leaky and leaked.
In 2016, two disasters in a row. In the Anapa area, old wells, now unused, have leaked. The village of Utash in a short time was left without fertile soil and water resources. A huge number of birds and fish died, the ecological situation was disturbed before the disaster. The second case occurred on Sakhalin, where more than 300 tons of oil flowed into the Gilyako-Abunan River and Urkt Bay, again from a long-mothballed pipeline. What is it? Simple negligence? Reluctance to comply with safety standards or irresponsibility?
Chemical emissions
Explosions in chemical plants are the most dangerous, because all the vapors spread through the air that we directly breathe. In 2005, a violent explosion at a Chinese enterprise threatened the existence of the Far Eastern Amur River, as a huge amount of toxic chemicals, including benzene, fell into its waters. In 2016, Krasnouralsk suffered from a fire of nitric acid at a local plant. We can continue to give examples further, the fact remains that we are far from slowly, but still truly ruining our home.
Air pollution
Cities that suffer from smog are also suitable for the concept of an ecological disaster zone. For example, the world famous capital of India, Delhi. However, Russia is also not far behind. Smoked, the smoke comes not only from overloading cities with cars, but also because of industrial enterprises that do not follow sanitary standards (the Vladivostok waste incinerator is a prime example).
By the way, in addition to acquiring respiratory diseases, a person also has mutations at the gene level.
So, in early 2017, Chelyabinsk hid in a brown fog due to factory emissions. And the reason for everything is savings. To save a penny, most enterprises refuse to use special purification filters, thereby becoming richer in turning the urban environment into a disaster zone. In the spring of the same year, residents of Krasnoyarsk could observe a "black sky", meaning that a huge amount of harmful impurities prevailed in the atmosphere. This is not a little, but a first degree of danger.
Similar emissions occurred in 2017 in Omsk and Moscow, however, they could not bring anyone to justice, as is customary in Russia. Everywhere everything was decided by money. It is a pity that you can’t buy health and a new clean organism on them.
Year of Ecology
Few people know, but the past year has been declared the “Year of Ecology,” which means that various conferences have been convened in the country, more intensive searches have been made to solve problems with the legal regime of environmental disaster zones. Ordinary residents could take part in the projects. The main problem was the pollution of the surrounding territories with oil products due to systematic violations of their production, as well as the use of tankers for transportation.
But the year began not quite successfully, already in January an environmental disaster overtook the already mentioned Vladivostok. In the Golden Horn Bay, an oil spill of 200 m² occurred. Then, once again, in Usinsk, an oil pipeline broke out, that is, another problem was added to the already recognized ecological disaster zone, in the form of two tons of the oil product, which destroyed the rest of the natural environment with all living organisms. The next tragedy came to the shores of Khabarovsk, a huge oil spill flowed out of the sewer pipes into the Amur River, covering more than 500 m² of shore and water surface.
Accidents at enterprises: stories and consequences
In addition to the dangers posed by the transportation of oil, oil refineries pose a great threat. In January last year, the city of Volzhsk stirred up from an explosion at a local factory. In connection with a violation of elementary safety rules, a petroleum product ignited.
A similar situation happened a month later in Ufa and St. Petersburg. The most important consequence was environmental pollution and the absorption by living organisms of dangerous air filled with deadly chemicals.
The accident, which could bring death to a large number of people, occurred in 2017 at the Research Institute of Dimitrovgrad, where one of the reactor plants was smoking. Despite the timely response, poisonous gases managed to get into the atmosphere. Due to negligence, in March of the same year, a fire broke out at the Togliatti Chemical Plant, filling the air with cyclohexane.
Exclusion Territories
In addition to these problem areas in Russia, there are also so-called exclusion zones that have undergone radioactive exposure. First of all, such a definition refers to the territories located in close proximity to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant during the accident. According to certain criteria and assessments, the following zones were identified as ecological disaster zones (by order of the Government of December 18, 1997, under number 1582):
- Territories of alienation and resettlement of the Bryansk region.
- Zones are partially habitable, but with the right to resettlement, located in the Bryansk, Oryol, Tula, Kaluga regions.
- The preferential and social status is assigned to Belgorod, Voronezh, Kursk, Bryansk, Kaluga, Ulyanovsk, Ryazan and other areas.
In addition to the Ukrainian Chernobyl zone, in the Russian territory there are no less dangerous places with radioactive contamination, such as Semipalatinsk, Chapaevsk and others.
In fact, the legal regime for such places is very poorly developed. For example, at the federal level, the country has not yet made a single decision on this declaration of an ecologically unsafe territory. Development was carried out, there were serious projects in Bratsk, including various kinds of expertise, but there are still no solutions.
Legal issue
Instead of officially declaring an environmentally disadvantaged territory, the Government adopts decrees on preferential living conditions in such places and supposedly improving the environmental situation. Instead of declaring an emergency, the administration of the same Khabarovsk escaped with the usual collection of an oil slick, and that’s all. Further, this issue has not been resolved. All data on the work done is nothing more than fiction.
However, if it is not the first time that an environmental disaster occurs in the same place, then according to the law governing such situations, measures should be taken to prevent negligence in the workplace,or completely eliminate the source of pollution. Neither one nor the other happens, nor does the restoration of the lost flora and fauna. Establishing the status of an environmental disaster zone is not a solution to the problem unless additional actions are taken.