"Thanks to a well-established dialogue between science, government and business, we see a multiple decrease in the number of complaints about the Nizhnekamsk industrial hub"
At a meeting with journalists, the Minister of Ecology said that the Ministry is the coordinator of many environmental projects and programs. The Minister of Ecology stressed that an integrated approach, structuring the problem and searching for cause-and-effect relationships are at the forefront of the Ministry of Ecology's work. He gave an analysis of the last few years. Thus, since 2017, emissions in Tatarstan have decreased from 657.6 thousand to 427.2 thousand tons, and discharges from 319.7 million to 199.3 million cubic meters.
The negative impact on the environment is reduced due to increased cleaning efficiency due to the introduction of recycled water supply schemes, the implementation of air protection measures by enterprises, as well as the transition to environmentally friendly fuels and transport.
"At the last meeting, I said that in 30 years we have achieved a 21.4% reduction in emissions. This year, we can already say that this indicator reaches 24.1% while maintaining GRP growth," the Minister of Ecology noted. The decrease in the volume of discharges of polluted wastewater has decreased by 67.2% over 30 years.
This also indicates the environmental orientation of Tatarstan enterprises, emphasized Alexander Shadrikov. The Ministry of Ecology is currently receiving on-line information on concentrations of pollutants in the atmospheric air from 12 AAPCS. These are 5 automatic atmospheric air monitoring stations of PJSC Nizhnekamskneftekhim, 3 atmospheric air monitoring stations of PJSC Tatneft, 1 control station of JSC TANECO, 2 stations of JSC TAIF-NK and 1 station of PJSC Kazanorgsintez. "Such openness and responsible attitude to environmental issues have already yielded results - as a result, we see a decrease in the number of excess in the territories of Nizhnekamsk and Almetyevsk. This is also confirmed by a decrease in the number of complaints from the population. I would like to note that since 2018, the number of complaints from citizens in connection with atmospheric air pollution in Nizhnekamsk has decreased 32 times from 583 complaints in 2018 to 18 complaints this year. It is very important that our large industrial enterprises implement the most modern technologies. This year, Kazanorgsintez launched Ecobot in test mode, which continuously measures the concentrations of 14 substances in the air," said Alexander Shadrikov.
At the same time, the minister stressed that there are still pain points that could not be resolved in 2024 – this is the problem of air quality in the northern part of Kazan. During the year, the Ministry received 535 appeals from residents of this part of the city. The air quality control stations installed in this part of Kazan recorded 1,252 excess levels. 99% of them are excess amounts of hydrogen sulfide.