Alexander Shadrikov: "Water is our main wealth. The source of water supply for every second Tatarstan citizen"
Issues of environmental safety in the field of protection of water bodies of the Republic of Tatarstan were discussed today at a meeting of the Security Council of the Republic of Tatarstan. The meeting was held in the Kazan Kremlin, chaired by the President of the Republic of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov. The main report was delivered by the Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources of the Republic of Tatarstan Alexander Shadrikov.
As Rustam Minnikhanov noted, opening the meeting, environmental issues have long gone beyond the personal well-being of citizens. He stressed that the state of the environment largely determines the national security of the state.
"Tatarstan is one of the most water–rich regions of Russia," Rustam Minnikhanov said. Today, there is a negative state of river systems in the republic — small rivers degrade and die. The reason is a variety of human activities, construction, pumping of groundwater and a drop in the groundwater level, dumping of agricultural and industrial waste, as well as the accumulation of dangerous biogenic chemical pollutants in the bottom sediments of small rivers."
Speaking with the report, Alexander Shadrikov focused on such problems as diffuse effluents, poor-quality work of sewage treatment plants, sub-sewage water and other issues. "We have more than 36 thousand water bodies – and this is our main wealth, a source of water supply for every second Tatarstan citizen. Open water intakes are used by more than 58% of our residents – these are Kazan, Naberezhnye Chelny, Nizhnekamsk, Innopolis. The health of our citizens depends on the quality of water. According to the results of the inventory of Tatarstan lakes conducted by the Institute of Ecology and Subsoil Use of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic, 3133 lakes have disappeared from the map over the past 50 years. So the number one task is to save our water resources for future generations!", - said Alexander Shadrikov.
It is necessary to find constructive solutions to many problematic issues, Rustam Minnikhanov said, we have one goal – to provide our residents with a high-quality environment.
"The main criteria for assessing the authorities today is the quality of life, and this cannot be achieved without attention to environmental measures. In addition, it is important to provide the population with high-quality drinking water. The main thing is that in all settlements we have water for irrigation of household farms, for household needs. We will do a program on the water. Although we have doubled the funding for solving water issues, this is not enough. We face two challenges – affordable quality water and the condition of our purification systems. Today, the work of treatment facilities should be strictly controlled," the President of Tatarstan said.
Reports were also made by Deputy Volga Interregional Environmental Prosecutor Alexander Gonchar, Minister of Construction, Architecture and Housing of the Republic of Tatarstan Marat Aizatullin, Chairman of the State Committee of the Republic of Tatarstan on Biological Resources Fedor Batkov, Head of the Volga-Kama Interregional Department of Rosprirodnadzor Fayaz Shakirov.
Rustam Minnikhanov instructed to prepare the minutes of the meeting with specific instructions within two weeks. In particular, it is planned to prepare an appeal to the Government of the Russian Federation on the extension of the federal project "Improvement of the Volga" until 2030 and on the adoption of the federal project "Improvement of the Kama".
"Improving the Volga and Kama Rivers are very popular programs," Rustam Minnikhanov said. – We will definitely prepare this appeal. I believe that it is impossible to separate the Volga from the Kama, since half of the Volga is water from the Kama River."
Rustam Minnikhanov also said that today the supervisory authorities, together with law enforcement agencies, should pay attention to unscrupulous economic entities that pollute water bodies.
"It is necessary to bring the perpetrators to justice and take a firm position," Rustam Minnikhanov said. – In some situations, I believe, it is not enterprises that should be fined, but officials."
In addition, the President of Tatarstan proposed to the Ministry of Construction, Architecture and Housing of the Republic of Tatarstan to create a register of bona fide and unscrupulous design organizations, contractors who are engaged in the construction of facilities in coastal zones, as well as in the construction of sewage treatment plants.
Treatment facilities that have been built within the framework of federal and regional programs require separate control. "The quality of work of such treatment plants should be monitored," Rustam Minnikhanov said. "We need to change our attitude to environmental measures."
Let us recall that in total there are 174 sewage treatment plants located on the territory of Tatarstan, 81 of them are state–owned, 93 are privately owned.