Baikal pollution is a problem that has been talked about for about twenty years. It excites not only our compatriots. The ecological situation around the unique lake, which has no analogue on the planet, worries the entire world community.
Despite the identification of the sources of its pollution, the adoption of measures to stop their negative impact on the water body is still an acute problem that Baikal has become a symbol of environmental danger.
Interesting facts about Baikal
This is the deepest lake on Earth: its maximum depth is 1642 meters. The bowl of the lake is the largest fresh water storage tank, its volume is more than 23 thousand cubic meters. kilometers, and this is 20% of world reserves.
There are many versions of how this pond was formed, and what its name came from - but there is no single reliable opinion among scientists on these issues. But the age of Lake Baikal is established: it is approximately 25-35 million years old.
About 300 water flows flow into it, replenishing its water supplies. Among them are such large rivers as the Selenga, Barguzin, Upper Angara. But only one follows - the Angara, giving birth to many local legends among the local population.
2600 species of inhabitants live in the waters of Baikal, half of which can exist only in this, almost distilled water.
Protection of Lake Baikal
In 1999, the federal law “On the Protection of Lake Baikal” was adopted, which officially recognizing the lake as a unique ecological system, regulates the degree of its protection from human economic activity in the legal field.
Academician M. A. Grachev emphasized in his speech that the pollution of Lake Baikal is local in nature and is produced by large sources of industrial emissions.
The law establishes and monitors the regime of activity around the lake, the boundaries of the fish protection zone, animal protection features, prohibitions on chemical and biological pollution of water and the coast, and a ban on activities leading to sharp fluctuations in water level. Considering that the system of the Baikal biosphere is so unique that it is still not possible to say that it has been fully studied, it is impossible to take decisively to correct the situation without risking to harm even more.
The main sources of pollution
In short, the pollution of Lake Baikal is carried out by three main sources: the waters of the Selenga river, hydrological adjustment of water levels by hydroelectric power station systems on the Angara and the Baikal Pulp and Paper Mill (PPM).
Additional sources include tree felling, lack of sewage treatment facilities in settlements, prohibited dumping of enterprises, water transport, tourism.
Selenga River
The river, with a length of more than 1 thousand kilometers, flows first through the territory of Mongolia, and then - Russia. Falling into Baikal, it gives almost half the volume of water entering the lake. But on the way from source to mouth, it collects polluting effluents on the territory of two states.
A significant pollutant of the river in Mongolia is the capital - Ulan Bator, and Darhan industrial enterprises dump waste into it. This large industrial center has many construction plants, leather factories, metallurgical plants and food industry enterprises. Gold mines in Zaamar also contribute.
Selenga pollutants on Russian territory are also well known. The treatment facilities of Ulan-Ude are not able to bring the wastewater volumes proposed by the city to standard parameters, the problems of sewerage in medium and small settlements are even more acute: some of the treatment facilities are in disrepair, but are absent at all. All this contributes to water pollution in Lake Baikal.
Agricultural fields in the Selenga basin also affect the deterioration of water quality in the lake.
Pulp and paper mill
One of the reasons for the pollution of Lake Baikal is the launch of the PPM in 1966. A giant built in the taiga gave the country the necessary and cheap paper, cardboard and industrial pulp. The flip side of the coin was the discharge of waste material without proper treatment back into the environment.
Dust and gas emissions have a detrimental effect on the taiga, among the trees there are diseases and death of the forest. The water coming from the lake for production needs was discharged after use back into the reservoir, which led to the degradation of the bottom areas adjacent to the plant. Warehousing, burial or burning of waste was carried out by the enterprise also on the shore of the lake, leading to pollution of Lake Baikal.
Introduced in 2008, the company's recycled water supply was quickly discontinued due to the inoperability of the system. In 2010, a government decree was adopted restricting the volume of products, imposing a ban on violations of the disposal of industrial waste. Lake Baikal is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Later studies showed that the problem of pollution of Lake Baikal in the area of the pulp and paper mill remained extremely acute: dioxin water pollution exceeded 40-50 times the similar pollution of any other part of the lake. In February 2013, the plant was closed, but not liquidated. Currently, there is regular monitoring of natural water. Analysis indicators are still extremely unsatisfactory.
Hydraulic system
In 1956, Lake Baikal became part of the Irkutsk reservoir, which changed its natural level by an increase of 1 meter. Some scientists, for example, T. G. Potemkin, are sure that it was this intervention in the natural system of the lake that was the most destructive. The time-honored construction could have inflicted an even more tangible blow to the ecosystem if the public did not defend the lake. It did not allow the builders to accelerate the filling of the reservoir, which would reduce the water level, albeit briefly, but by as much as five meters. This disaster was avoided.
But the working adjustment of the water level used in the hydraulic system gives fluctuations reaching one and a half meters during the year. This leads to swamping of the shores, pollution of Lake Baikal, erosion, deepening, and other changes in the coastline. The implementation of regulatory documents on adjusting the water level at hydroelectric power plants has been adopted and is strictly monitored. But it is impossible to stop the working system, and fluctuations in levels harm the living creatures that inhabit the lake: the nesting sites of birds and fish spawning are destroyed, the burrows of the underwater inhabitants are flooded or, on the contrary, exposed.
Hydroelectric Power Station Construction Projects in Mongolia
A few more may well be added to the already listed sources of pollution of Lake Baikal. In 2013, neighboring Mongolia began to study the issue of building several hydroelectric power stations in the Selenga. Obviously, the launch of these power plants will not only worsen the difficult environmental situation on Lake Baikal, but will lead to disaster. Russia offered its assistance in designing and implementing alternative options for generating electricity for the economic needs of Mongolia.
How the independent country will behave in the future is unknown. Obviously, Lake Baikal has become the subject of blackmail in international politics.
Human factor
As can be seen in the photo, pollution of Lake Baikal is not only natural or industrial in nature. Definitely, this is the work of human hands.
Every year the number of tourists in these parts increases, people began to be more interested in the history and nature of their native land. Travel companies prepare water, hiking, cycling and other routes. To do this, trails are worked out and cleared, parking lots are equipped. The organizers are also well thought out for waste disposal.
But a lot of problems are created by unorganized tourists who go on individual routes and, unfortunately, do not always clean up household waste. Volunteers going to clean the taiga at the end of each tourist season have already harvested about 700 tons.
Deforestation and water transport
The felling of taiga, which was once carried out in these places, is now of an orderly nature and is being carried out on special plots far from the shoreline of the lake and rivers. But this is an industrial procurement. And logging for private needs, by tourists or poachers, causes irreparable harm, disrupting the already fragile ecosystem of this region.
Ships plowing the vast expanses of water contribute to the pollution of the lake. Fuel and fuel and lubricants of pleasure, traveling, tourist, personal and other watercraft fall into the water, worsening the situation.
Measures to protect Baikal from pollution
In order to avoid complicating the already difficult environmental situation on Lake Baikal, state and public organizations joined in the work to normalize the situation. Each at their level intensified their activities, attracting activists to help, which has already yielded good, encouraging results.
To reduce the level of pollution of the lake, such measures were carried out at the state level:
- The law “On Lake Baikal” (1999) was adopted.
- Pulp and paper mill stopped working.
- The number of discharges to the Selenga River has been reduced.
- The work of parks and reserves on the lake is monitored.
- Funding is underway to monitor the state of water, the coastal topography and the bottom of the lake. As well as providing scientific advice to specialists.
At the same time as the state, eco-movement activists stood up to defend the unique lake. They launch various projects related to the restoration of the environment of Lake Baikal:
- The Great Baikal Trail. Volunteers from different regions of Russia participate in the creation of organized hiking trails that do not violate the ecology of these places. The proper condition of the trail is being monitored.
- “Save Baikal.” Those who wish to clean the taiga of household waste are invited to this project.
- "The protected Baikal region." This project is carried out annually and is valid for two weeks. It is also associated with cleaning the territory of the Transbaikal park and the Baikal-Lensky reserve.
People who committed the monstrous pollution of Lake Baikal, thoughtlessly destroying the unique plants and rare inhabitants of the reservoir, today are finally horrified of their deeds. The situation on the lake is still very difficult. The coastal layer of water is penetrated by algae that were generated by human activity, and whether they will be completely cleaned someday is not known. But I really want to hope that the destructive car stopped, and maybe rolled back a little.