Volga region threatened with anthrax
Burial grounds of cattle in Volga region pose hazard to life of regional population.
Volga interregional Prosecutor of Russian environmental Office of Public Prosecutor Vera Soldatova said in her interview for "Independent newspaper" population of this region live with permanent danger to fall sick of anthrax.
She said there are few thousands of sunken ships at the bottom of the river Volga. "The most part of ships, which finished their service life are not being utilized by statutory requirements but are just sunken. That is easier and cheaper. Our first examinations showed there were about 2000 ship at the bottom of Volga - from boats to cargo barges", - said Soldatova.
About a half of sunken vessels were raised and repaired or utilized. But such operations are expensive. "We need 250-500 thousand rubles for that. Moreover environmental office has only one supersize crane "Moguchy" for Volga. That?s why we execute the works stage-by-stage in every region", - said Soldatova.
Ships? owners do not want to pay for the utilization of their property and the office goes to the law. Besides the most of ships are ownerless. "In Volgograd region 105 of 133 sunken ships were ownerless. We see the same situation in other Volga regions", - said the prosecutor.
She said water in the river is very bad. The main reason is the pollution of surface water by sewage. Millions tons of tailings are drained into Volga every year, considerable part of comes unrefined", - said Soldatova.
She said burial grounds of cattle in the region of Volga bring serious problem for the population.
"Volga regions? people live under the threat of anthrax. According to our data there are about 12000 of burial grounds of cattle on the territory of Volga basin, 7 thousands are burial places for cattle died of anthrax. And the danger is that we don?t know about the location of most of them because they appeared in XIX century when officials were not anxious about designation and fencing in burials, official registration in archives", - said the prosecutor.
According to Soldatova there are more than 400 burials in Volgograd region. Reliable sources show only 17 of them. Spores of anthrax remain active for hundred years so there is serious risk for health and life of the population in Volga region, said Vera Soldatova.
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