Ulba river in Siberia poisoned by mining city Ridder in Kazakhstan, 1100 km upstream – ‘It is a real ecological disaster’

Desdemona Despair

31 May 2016 (Siberian Times) – Alert as dump including cyanide at zinc plant leaks into Ulba Rover and pollution flows towards Omsk.

An acidic smell causes breathing difficulties as far as 700 metres from the river, according to worried locals on the bank of the Ulba.

Omsk residents, around 1,100 kilometres from the source of the pollution at Kazzinc plant in Ridder, once called Leninogorsk, are stocking up on bottled water, evidently panicked by the impending risk as the polluted water – including cyanide – flows into Russia.

Officials in Russia and Kazakhstan have played down the threat, especially in Omsk, claiming the river will have cleansed the pollution by the time the leak reaches the western Siberian city.

But biologist Dr Sergey Solovyov, from Omsk, warned: “It is real ecological disaster. Zinc has a negative impact on the human reproductive function. It impacts on the gastrointestinal system, the nervous system.” [more]

Stinking poisoned water flows towards Siberia from mining city Ridder in Kazakhstan