Sochi: untreated sewage drained into sea

The Bzugu water treatment facilities in Sochi fail to run to their full capacity, say ecologists and oppositional party activists.

"The Bzugu treatment facilities, which cost three billion roubles from the budget, and which should have been commissioned two years ago, are functioning only partially. Therefore, most of untreated faecal sewage from the Olympic capital gets right into the Black Sea." Vladimir Kimaev, the leader of the local branch of the "Yabloko" Party, said in his interview to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

"The central facilities, or, as they are called, the Bzugu facilities, were opened within the state Olympic programme. The first and second phases should receive and process 70,000 cubic meters of waste water each," said Professor Nikolai Kulikov, Doctor of Technical Sciences and a member of the social and environmental council under the Mayor of Sochi.

However, as explained by the Professor, "the second phase is absent at all." According to his story, currently, some 50,000 cubic meters of untreated sewage and wastewater go right into the sea. "You can imagine the scope of damage caused to the ecology of the city. I repeatedly raised these issues, but no one listened to me," he said.