Project PeatStop in Russian Karelia - the situation in the summer of 2021

Submitted by outi.laatikain… on
A screenshot of the news segment in Russian local news

The video clip is from the Russian local news, a segment on Project PeatStop.

Petrozavodsk City faces a significant pollution problem in the potential recreational areas. Because of the unusually hot summer weather, the citizens of Petrozavodsk have been actively spending time on the multiple public beaches the city has – but despite the fact that Petrozavodsk is located on the bank of the Lake Onega, there is no single equipped recreational area where people could swim safely. The quality of water does not fulfill the requirements to authorize it as safe environment for swimming.

The City Administration of Petrozavodsk recognizes the problem. However, to solve it, there is a need to establish the sources of water pollution. One of the partners in the project PeatStop, “Water &Ecology”, speculates that one of the potential sources of lake contamination is runoff water, which has traces of pets’ excrements as well as unauthorized connection to the city runoff water pipeline. The situation is worsened by the lack of runoff water filter system in Petrozavodsk. In 2006 a concept of runoff water purification system was developed; however its realization requires considerable investments.

Currently the entire city’s surface runoff water flows through underground pipelines and 30 outlets. Project PeatStop is aimed at modernizing of the filter system of the most problematic outlet near the city recreational area. The outlet is recognized to be a remarkable carrier for oil and other contaminants. Thus, PeatStop project, which is financed by Karelia CBC programme, attempts to tackle the problem of contaminated water in the citizens’ recreational area and consequently to improve the living environment.