Russia’s Battle with Water Pollution Continues

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Russia’s Battle with Water Pollution Continues

Water Contamination in Russia Continues to be Widespread,However, Companies Offering New Customized Solutions for Water Purification Have Appeared on the Market

Every third sample from sources of drinking water in Russia fails to meet acceptable standards due to chemical contamination, according to Russian consumer watchdog agency Rospotrebnadzor. Moreover, nearly half of Russia's population lacks safe drinking water.

As recently reported by Greenpeace, water pollution is widespread: "Thousands of companies have dumped dangerous chemicals into rivers and lakes, and these pollutants are inevitably absorbed into the human body through water and food." According to Greenpeace, "Companies are not adopting clean technologies, and the government is ineffectual when it comes to preventing criminals from poisoning the water."

At the same time, in recent years the number of companies in Russia that offer unique technologies for purifying water, including water with radioactive contamination, is increasing. In late August, RosRAO, a subsidiary of Rosatom, qualified to participate in research to determine the technologies that will be the most effective in purifying the polluted water from the Fukushima-1 nuclear power plant.

The Japanese government will invest more than $9.5 million in this research. Private companies offer new solutions More and more, small companies are offering innovative new solutions for water purification. Recently, a team of former equipment suppliers to Gazprom, Russia's largest energy company, implemented a new solution developed by the Novosibirsk Institute of Mining. The result is Aquifer, a complex water purification system.

Making water safe to drink The Aquifer idea came to Pyotr Mikheev at the beginning of the 2000s, when he and two of his partners were supplying water treatment equipment to Gazprom camp sites. "We got together $100,000 in personal funds to launch assembly plants,"

Mikheev said. In order to make water potable, there are several classic methods: chlorination, ozonation, UV treatment, ultrafiltration, and electrolysis. Unfortunately, chlorine is dangerous to store, transport, and use because it is a poisonous substance. Since the end of the 20thcentury, ultraviolet light and ozone have been used in purification. But ozone is poisonous, and ultraviolet light purifies water only near the source. Already within a meter and a half, nothing of this effect is left in the water flow.

Therefore, when using this method, a chlorination installation has to be added to the purification cycle. Ultraviolet lampsare longitudinally complex, and the surfaces require constant cleaning. Electrolysis is still the safest and most effective method of disinfecting.


Source: Russia Beyond the Headlines

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