The Ministry of Environment held the 4th meeting of the Organizing Committee for the Year of water protection zones in Tatarstan
1681 offenses of water protection legislation were found by the officers of the Ministry of Environment in the current year. These figures are three times higher than the last year’s (536 offenses in 2015). Such resultshave been were achieving due to intensive work of state inspectors, active involvement of public inspectors, and, of course, necessary technical means. Geodetic satellite equipment, motor boats of various modifications, vehicles, and drones – all this havehelped to work fast and effectively. Environmentalists have surveyed 100% of water objects of regional significance. 334 facts of restricted free access to water were found. By now 278 objects have been demolished. Other materials are currently investigated byjudicial authorities.
Huge work has been done on survey and location of wrecks, and ecological expertise has been performed. 2017 yearwill see a lot of work on their lifting, first those with a serious negative impact on the water ecosystem.
On the meeting it was appraiseda well-coordinated joint work of the Ministry of Environment and the bailiff service, the prosecutor’s office of the republic, Kazan and Tatar environmental prosecutor’s offices, the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation in the Republic of Tatarstan, Kazan linear departmentof the Interior Ministry of Russia. The production of widespread mineral deposits in the waters of the rivers Vyatka, Volga, and Kama Regular was regularly monitored. For illegal (non-licensed) actions four persons willbear criminal liability. In order to prevent such incidents,the mining machinery locations arestrictly controlled. Connection ofwater subsurface users to thenational information system GLONASS 112 has become mandatory. The participants of the meeting offered to cancel the license for the offenders.
In the Year of the water protection areas people of Tatarstanreceived 21 leisure areas by the water. The most impressive examples areembankment ofthe river Nurminki (Kukmor), reconstructed embankment of the river Ik (Muslyumovo), park “Kazansu” (Arsk), where the key point in the improvement was the restoration of the natural balance of floodplains. These activities will be continued in 2017, declared the Year of Ecology in Russia, and the Year of ecology and public spaces in the Republic of Tatarstan,with the respect for nature as another key point.
During the meeting the following reportswere heard: about the work carried out by the Volga Interregional Environmental Prosecutor’s Office within the framework of the Year of the water protection zones in the Republic of Tatarstan, reported by Oleg Daminov,the deputy of the Volga Interregional Environmental Prosecutor;IlsurGilmutdinov, the Tatar Nature Protection Interdistrict Prosecutor, told about results of the work on supervisory on water legislation aimed at water conservation;AiratAkhmetshin, the deputy head of the Investigative Department of the Investigative Committee of Russian Federation in the Republic of Tatarstan, reported on “Activities of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation in the Republic of Tatarstan to investigate environmental crimes, and cooperation in this field with other law enforcement and regulatory authorities”. Dmitry Ivanov, the deputy police chief of the Kazan linear department of the MOI of Russia for transport, reported about interaction between the Kazan linear departmentof the MOI of Russia for transport and the Ministry of Ecology of RT in activities to prevent illegal mining of non-metallic building materials on objects of theriversVolga and Kama. Lilia Gainutdinova, the deputy head of RosPrirodNadzor environmental watchdog Department in Tatarstan, told about the activities carried out within the framework of the Year of the water protection zones. The report of ArtemKostin,the Deputy Head of the State Registration Service of the Federal Office, Cadastre and Cartography of the Republic of Tatarstan, was dedicated to the results of state supervision of land in the coastal areas of the Republic of Tatarstan in 2016. FayazShakirov, Deputy Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources of the Republic of Tatarstan,chief State inspector in environmental protection, reported results of the regional state environmental supervision in the framework of the Year of water protection zones.
The organizing committee of the meeting was attended by: chiefs of the environmental prosecutor’s offices, transport prosecutor’s office, investigative committee, transport police, Russia’s RosPrirodNadzor environmental watchdog and Federal Service for State Registration, the Cadastre, and Cartography in RT, and members of the Organizing Committee, including representatives of relevant ministries and agencies; federal bodies of executive power of the Republic of Tatarstan, universities, research organizations, and 8 regional departments of the Ministry.
Press-service of MENR RT