

South coast of the Absheron Peninsula

Caspian ecological disaster

Interview

2019 July 20 ( Saturday ) 13:08:14

The Office of the Caspian Integrated Environmental Monitoring of the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources announced the results of the next monitoring conducted on the beaches from June 28 to July 4. The monitoring results confirmed once again the microbiological contamination of the beaches in Turkyan, Hovsan, Shykhovo, Sahil, and Sumgait. The Novkhani beach has been mentioned for the first time among the unsatisfactory beaches. In the northern region, along with Nabran, the pollution of the beaches of Yalama, Seidler, Istisu (Mukhtadyr) has been confirmed. The unsatisfactory situation is on the beaches of Lankaran and Astara. According to environmentalists, in the northern and southern regions, an increase in polluted beaches is due to discharge of sewage into the sea. Why is the Caspian and its coast increasingly polluted?Ecologist Rovshan Abbasov answers ASTNA questions in this connection.

***

- According to the results of the last monitoring of the Caspian Integrated Monitoring Department of the Ministry of Environment, microbiological contamination of most beaches has been confirmed. This time, the list includes new beaches. The situation on the beaches in the regions is also unsatisfactory. Environmentalists say that the increase in the number of polluted beaches in the northern and southern regions is associated with the discharge of sewage into the sea. Is sewage really drained into the sea? And what exactly is meant by wastewater?

- Sewage watersare wastes mainly formed in the populatedarears, as well as waste from industrial enterprises. In many cases, it is impossible to stop them, since most of them come to Azerbaijan from abroad. In particular through the Kura river. The second reason is that in Soviet times there were a lot of industrial enterprises built, but the ecological infrastructure was not established - hence the situation. The impropvement of the situation requires a long time.

-Are oil wastes merged into the sea? After all, some kind of work was done before to ptrevent the merge of the wastes into the sea, and what was the result?

-When wells were built in the Caspian during the Soviet era, no environmental standards were taken into account. The main goal was only oil. The ecology of the Caspian was in second, and maybe in third place. True, then some environmental documents and passports were required. However, today the situation is somewhat different. At the newly constructed wells, serious measures are being taken to prevent oil from pouring into the sea. The work on projects is ongoing, there are special standards that are respected. In old wells, the situation remains unchanged. Although there are some results in the newly drilled wells, it cannot be argued that the waters of the Caspian Sea in comparison with previous years have become cleaner. It is just that in many coastal areas of the Ministry of Ecology, water treatment facilities were put into operation, which cleanse sewage and industrial waters and only then drain them into the sea. However, the situation on the beaches is deplorable, most of them have not joined the centralized sewer network. In places of recreation of people sewage is discharged into the sea. Sewage from the residential houses built near the shore are also poured into the sea.

-You told about the establishment of water-treatment plants. However, compared to previous years year, the pollution situation on the beaches has become worse this year. It turns out that these treatment plants do not prevent pollution.

- The work done is not enough, we need broader measures, more work. All settlements located along the coast, all beaches, in particular, private houses located right by the sea should be connected to a centralized managed sewage network.

- Chemical plant used to operate in Sumgait, and caused pollution of the environment and the sea. Now these plants do not work. Then where does this pollution come from?

- Pollution from industrial water has decreased, but pollution from domestic wastewater has increased. On the Absheron Peninsula, for example, pollution by industrial waters is not the same as before. Now chemical plants do not pour water into the sea, as before. Plants now use the most modern from an environmental point of view of the device. In this direction, some work is underway. However, the main problem is that there is overcrowding along the coast. In some places, even to the seashore it is impossible to pass, because this area is occupied and not connected to the sewage system, to the process of regulating wastewater. It all goes to sea. I say with full responsibility that emergency pollution does not occur at the expense of industrial waters, but at the expense of domestic wastewater.

- What are other causes of pollution?

- This is pollution through transboundary rivers. Volga and Kura are very dirty rivers. Pollution flowing along the Volga from Russia, of course, affects the Caspian from the north, and it reaches us. The rivers Kura and Ural are also very dirty. In addition, the situation with free waste is critical in Azerbaijan. In particular, this concerns plastic waste scattered along the shore, too much of it. That is, to a greater extent this garbage is thrown into the sea. If to look at the Khazar district of the capital and the Lankaran region , which are very close to the sea, you can see plastic waste over a large area. Coastal zone management requires not only programs, but also projects. The coastal zone should not be a residential area. At one time, Heydar Aliyev issued a decree prohibiting construction near the coast. Then they made this distance of 30 meters, and now no one pays any attention at all. Who is building the house, the fence, and as a result, ugly beaches are formed. If, for example, we compare the coast of Batumi in Georgia with Baku beaches, we will see that our situation is deplorable.

- The sea is not only in Azerbaijan. Sea and beaches are available in many countries. And people live there. But there is no such level of pollution as ours. What do you think is the reason?

- Let's take, for example, neighboring Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, where there is no such settlement of the coastal territory as ours. There pollution comes through rivers. In many countries, construction in the coastal zone is strictly prohibited. In these countries, the issue of coastal area management is taken very seriously. The coast should always be open to attract tourists.Wazter from the houses shoud not merge in the sea. This is an important condition. In Baku, none of these conditions are not observed. In Baku along the coast you can walk only on the boulevard. In other places you do not walk. Yes, the natural, as they say in Russian, you will not see the wild coast. It is impossible to just walk freely, because the whole coast is busy.

-What can I do? What can be done to prevent pollution of the sea, discharge of sewage and oil waste into it?

-First, to demolish all the buildings along the coast, as well as the beaches separating the coastal zone, catering facilities. There should not be a single fence along the coast. At a distance of 100 meters a restaurant or cafe can be placed, but not the beach. That is, the coastal zone should be completely free. Secondly, household waste on the coastal strip must be connected to the central sewer system, to the wastewater management system. The area must be cleared. First, the pollution must be stopped, otherwise there will be no results without it. Second, building a large-scale sewer system. In Hovsan we have a water treatment plant, there should be many such facilities. Then you need to prepare good projects, break up the recreation infrastructure in the coastal zone, as is done in Spain, the Netherlands, the USA, Japan. In this case, the number of tourists to Azerbaijan will increase tenfold. Now most of the tourists go to Georgia. But on the Black Sea there are no such beautiful beaches like ours. There the coast is rocky, and the water is very salty. The Caspian Sea is unique. It is just necessary to carry out serious management work. Sometimes I drive in the direction of Zira. There was empty space, they were swimming freely, and the water was cleaner, but even there they began to build up the shore, an oil well was installed. Now the port is being built, although there was a real tourist spot there. And in this capacity, this territory would bring more revenue than the port, which could be built in another place. Beautiful unique places should be left free to attract tourists. We must leave places for hiking. All these are very important conditions. I repeat once again that all fences on the seashore, all buildings and objects should be demolished. Seashore should be free.