20,000 residents of Volga delta suffer from poisonous toxins flowing into Caspian Sea (+video)

Ownerless pits full of petroleum products in the Astrakhan Region poison the ground water; they run into the Volga River and one of its largest tributaries – the Kizan River, and from there – into the Caspian Sea. Scientists, state officials and local residents have been aware of the problem of the Sokolov oil pits since early 1990s, but so far – there is no solution.

The Sokolov pits were created for storing oil wastes by merchants Sokolov and Assadulaev back in early 20^th century. In 1950s, the Sokolov pits were converted into oil storage facilities. In early 1990s, they were taken out of service, but not liquidated. Oil pits were simply covered with soil. Since then, the water of the Kizan River washed the bank to the width of over 15 meters. Tons of oil sludge got into the river, which is one of the largest arms of the Volga delta. This process is still ongoing.

On June 30 and July 3, the Sokolov oil pits were visited by Sergey Perevalov, the Project Manager of the Closed Joint-Stock Company (CJSC) "Octopus" and the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent. The "Octopus" is involved, jointly with the Astrakhan State Technical University (ASTU) in drafting a project on liquidating the Sokolov oil pits.

"This is actually an ecological disaster in the local dimension," said Sergey Perevalov.

He noted that in close proximity to the oil pits there are several water intakes, which provide technical, irrigation and drinking water for several communities located downstream the Kizan River According to the expert, the pollution may affect the area inhabited by about 20,000 residents.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.