Kyiv officials reveal 2 senarios over Desna river pollution

Source: Kyiv City Administration

Kyiv officials revealed two possible scenarios the city can face this week after waste products were dumped into the Desna, a major tributary of the Dnipro river.

According to Oleg Lysiuk of Kyivvodokanal, the optimistic scenario suggests the spill won’t reach the Dnipro, which remains and a main source of water supplies in Ukraine’s capital.  He said the city is ready for the worst-case scenario where the contaminated water reaches Kyiv as it has “reserves of purified water”.

Lysiuk reassured: “The pessimistic scenario is possible but very, very unlikely… We’re observing natural dilution, so it’s possible the contamination won’t reach Kyiv in a significant amount that would cause concern.”

The city officials say the water supply situation remains under control with an operational headquarters closely monitoring the water quality in both the Desna and Dnipro rivers. Roman Tkachenko, director of the KCSA’s Municipal Security Department, confirmed that water quality tests show no toxic substances have been detected.

Kyivvodokanal argued that the spill is “organic in nature” as it is allegedly was caused by the sugar factory that dumped waste products in the Desna river.

The city is using  treatment methods like activated carbon filtration to avoid water quality issues.