Iași City Hall, in eastern Romania, announced that it has sent a humanitarian convoy of tankers with drinking water to Bălți, the second-largest city in the Republic of Moldova. The latter witnessed massive levels of pollution on the Dniester River following Russian strikes on the Novodnestrovsk Hydropower Complex.
The complex is located about 15 km from the Moldovan border. The attack allegedly caused a massive discharge of technical oils and other petroleum substances into the Dniester River, and authorities advised residents to avoid using the water. The river is Moldova’s primary source of freshwater.
According to the authorities, the state of alert concerns the administrative-territorial units located in the basin of the Dniester River, including Drochia, Soroca, and Chișinău, the administrative-territorial units on the left bank of the Dniester, as well as, partially, localities such as Hîncești, Ialoveni, and Ștefan Vodă. Serghei Diaconu, director of Moldova’s National Crisis Management Center, said that there are currently clear indications that the pollution wave continues to move downstream, to the Naslavcea–Soroca.
“In these difficult days for Bălți, marked by the exceptional situation regarding the water supply, our city is not alone. After the appeal I launched for humanitarian aid, I was contacted by the mayor of Iași, Mr. Mihai Chirică. A humanitarian convoy of tankers with drinking water will arrive in Bălți to support the residents of the city,” announced the mayor of Bălți, Alexandr Petkov, cited by TVR Moldova.
Massive pollution
The cause of the pollution was not identified at first. On March 10, Moldova’s Ministry of Environment announced that oily patches had been detected upstream of the locality of Naslavcea. The institution requested information from Ukraine to clarify the origin of the leaks.
On March 12, Kyiv announced that the pollution of the Dniester may have been caused by a Russian air attack on energy infrastructure in the Chernivtsi region of Ukraine on March 7. According to the Ukrainian government, tons of rocket fuel and petroleum products may have leaked into the river’s waters.
As a result, Moldovan authorities requested the activation of the European Union Civil Protection Mechanism and shut down the water intake station at Cosăuți, which supplies the Soroca–Bălți aqueduct. At the same time, the water supply was temporarily stopped in the locality of Naslavcea, as well as in the districts of Soroca, Bălți, Florești, and Sîngerei.
Moldova dispatched soldiers to support the central and local authorities in the north of the country, including the localities supplied with water from the Dniester River. Over 90 tons of water were also distributed.
Romania also sent equipment and materials to the neighboring country, as well as a specialized intervention team from Apele Române, which is helping to collect polluting substances from the surface of the water.
“Unfortunately, the wave of pollution with petroleum products continues to move along the course of the river, and in some sectors in the north of the Dniester, the level of contamination exceeds the permitted limits,” said prime minister Alexandru Munteanu, according to Digi24.
“Even at this moment, the pollutant continues to spill into the Dniester, and we observe that the volume of oil is much greater than the initially announced 1.5 tons. The sole culprit for the pollution is the Russian Federation,” according to Gheorghe Hajder, Moldova’s environment minister.
(Photo source: IGSU on Facebook)
Leave a Reply