Aleksandr Shadrikov in Nizhnekamsk: ‘We monitor air quality every 20 minutes’

740 million for landfill remediation

The landfill in Prosti settlement, Nizhnekamsk District, which appeared as early as in the Soviet era, was the first destination of the ecologists’ visit. Rubber waste repeatedly burnt, the last fire broke out here in October 2018. Land remediation has begun this year within Clean Country federal project. The total financing is 740 million rubles.

“We must dispose of about 400,000 tonnes of rubber goods and process around 10%. The environment on the territory and a river will be rehabilitated, a gully will be restored. Previously we analysed the water in the river running near Prosti settlement, we will try to return it to its original state,” Aleksandr Shadrikov said.

All goods from the landfill are sorted out. After that, they are disposed of or sent for recycling. The contaminated soil and small rubber waste is buried nearby — on a special spoil tip. It is a prepared gully at the bottom of which sediments are stored in hermetic coating without environmental damage.

“Mr Minnikhanov backed the project, gave us instructions. We elaborated them”

Then the minister of ecology familiarised with the progress of repair works on the Krasny Klyuch Dam. The earthworks began to fall apart here several years ago, its height in some places became several metres below the designed level. By specialists’ estimate, in the case of a water inrush, three settlements will be flooded — Probuzhdeniye, Ilyunka and Dmitriyevka as well as 40,000 allotments and three children’s camps.

“Colleagues have said today that the dam burst in 1979. To avoid this, reconstruction is taking place here nowadays, 900m rubles were allocated. It is the initiative of the republic and the city’s management. Mr Minnikhanov backed the project, gave us instructions. We elaborated them with federal agencies,” Aleksandr Shadrikov said.

According to him, sheet piling is about to end on the dam now. Now the support is created, stone drainage is laid, capping beams are placed.

“We set a task to implement the project this year. The contractors must fix all piles, bring crushed stone in November. There will be some discomfort for those who live there, but we will complete the works before the deadline,” he promised.

After the dam is reconstructed, there will be created a retaining wall, solid concrete capping beam, slope support. It is planned to strengthen the bottom of the river to protect the bank from erosion.

“1,6bn rubles will be spent in Nizhnekamsk”

After visiting the sites, Aleksandr Shadrikov headed to a children’s ecology and biology centre. Here not indifferent citizens of Nizhnekamsk who came to personally ask the functionary from Kazan a question had been waiting for him. In his welcome speech, he noted that the republic did a lot to protect the environmental, huge financing was allocated.

“Tatarstan has about 5 billion of investments within Ecology national project alone. It is a huge amount. Imagine that 1 billion 600 million rubles will be spent in Nizhnekamsk. This will allow solving the problems that have concerned the citizens for decades. Besides the national project, enterprises also do a lot in the city,” the Tatarstan minister of ecology noted.

He told the audience that the previous year there was signed an agreement to create Ecology integrated scientific and technical programme. Three institutes of the Russian Academy of Sciences at once joined it.

“Our industrial enterprises actively make their contribution to avoiding emergency emissions. Nizhnekamskneftekhim, TAIF GC and Tatneft in general do a big job. A big job is ahead within the integrated scientific and technical programme and the industrialists’ union. It is necessary to establish online air control so that we can see all sources of emissions that total over 6,500. We also want to create a rapid response team that will enable to respond quickly and find lawbreakers,” Shadrikov noted.

“We see the city change. We aren’t ashamed to invite guests”

Chairman of the Council of Veterans in the Nizhnekamsk Municipal District Grigory Kitanov was the first to ask him a question from the audience. According to him, the environment in Nizhnekamsk has notably improved in the last years, but it is rumoured that another enterprise will appear instead of the landfill in Prosti settlement.

“We see the city change. We aren’t ashamed to invite guests. There are both parks and squares. Many thanks for this. Enterprises also invest a lot. We visited Nizhnekamskneftekhim’s biological treatment facilities in which millions were invested. Today our delegation is going to Nizhnekamskneftekhim’s water treatment plant where an expensive coal filter is replaced. We had been waiting for the reconstruction of the Krasny Klyuch Dam. Many thanks. Could you tell us what will appear instead of the landfill in Prosti after the remediation? It is said that a new factory will be built there. Make it clear, please,” he was concerned.

The ministry of ecology hastened to assure the audience that a green zone would appear instead of the landfill. The biological stage will begin 2021 — treatment of the river nearby and tree planting. The next question was about the allocation of quotas for emissions in Nizhnekamsk.

“The enterprises keep developing, we agree with it because the country must be strong. At the same time, the impact of emissions on humans must be minimised. Last year, it was decided to allocate quotas for emissions in 12 cities of Russia. Will Nizhnekamsk be on this list?” a citizen asked.

“When we tried to join this programme and applied for it, Moscow was confused. According to them, others were encouraged, while we came ourselves. We are dealing with the allocation of quotas. If we see sources of emissions online, we can talk about a reduction in emissions. Nizhnekamsk has a united sanitary and protection zone, there is an automated pollution control system, five posts of them belong to the ecology ministry. Tatneft and TAIF also send us their data. We monitor the quality of the air every 20 minutes. Any new enterprise has a limit. We do calculations in the ministry, in fact, this is the allocation of quotas,” Aleksandr Shadrikov claimed.

During the meeting, citizens of Nizhnekamsk asked the Tatarstan minister tens of questions, which at times had nothing to do with his ministry. Somebody complained about an illegal seizure of the territory near water bodies, somebody was concerned about the apple garden in the city and the construction of the future allergy centre. Business people were indignant about the waste reform because of which the waste collection tariff grew many times.

In a personal talk with Realnoe Vremya’s correspondent after the event ended, Aleksandr Shadrikov said that the environmental situation in Nizhnekamsk was stable. The number of complaints from the population about emissions into the atmosphere reduced, but there is still a lot to do.

“According to the data we receive from the automated air quality control stations and the information from industrial enterprise, the situation in the city is stable today. 43 substances are monitored. We see that the enterprise also do a lot to avoid bulk emissions. Nizhnekamskneftekhim that built treatment facilities makes a big contribution. Moreover, the enterprise did a lot to deal with companies that can discharge bulk emissions into sewage. Wells have sensors that show the level of gas contamination. The integrated work will go on with all enterprises,” he concluded.