Construction of new water intake and sewage disposal facilities at the tourist center of the National Park, 2005-2009
Events, facts, documents and evidences: Sewage treatment facilities at the tourist center of the National Park "Belovezhskaya Pushcha" were old, and had a poor technical quality here and there being in needs for overhaul or upgrading. Because of this, sewage did not reach absorption fields in the full volume, got into the surrounding forest and polluted it (see the page "Pollution of the protected forest by oil products and by drain effluent"). In 2005 the decision to construct the new and more powerful water intake and sewage facilities at the tourist center was accepted that completely to replace the old ones.
The construction works began from cutting down and clearing a plot of the living, prefect, relic, pine forest of the old age to place the new hydraulic engineering infrastructure there. The plot was selected behind a restaurant storehouse.
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| (Cutting down; July 10, 2005) |
The photos below show construction of a new deep water well. A small plot of the relic, pine forest of the old age was also cut down.
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| (Construction of a new deep water well; May 07, 2006) |
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(Construction of an access road to the new deep water well;
May 07, 2006) |
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(Cutting in the forest near the new deep water well
damaged by heavy lorries; May 07, 2006) |
The photos below show construction of a tank for water reserve and a deironing station.
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| (Construction of a tank for water reserve and a deironing station; May 07, 2006) |
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(A fence around the tank for water reserve and the deironing station;
May 07, 2006) |
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| (A road to the Dokudovo natural boundary blocked by the installations; May 07, 2006) |
A cutting from the tourist center to grasslands of a former peatbog drained within the Dokudovo natural boundary was made in the forest that to construct a sewer line for sewage. The length of the cutting is almost 1 kilometer.
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| (A cutting for a sewer line; May 07, 2006) |
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| (A sewer line for sewage; May 07, 2006) |
The photos below show the area of the former peatbog within the Dokudovo natural boundary where absorption fields were constructed.
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| (Absorption fields being under construction; May 07, 2006) |
Young forest and bushes were cut down in some places to construct absorption fields.
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| (Young forest and bushes cut down; May 07, 2006) |
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| (An access road to absorption fields; May 07, 2006) |
The photos below show the area of the drained peatbog within the Dokudovo natural boundary.
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(The area of the drained peatbog within
the Dokudovo natural boundary; May 07, 2006) |
After a time more trees including pine ones of the old age were cut down around the constructed and fenced area of the deironing station.
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| (Felling more trees; July 01, 2006) |
Absorption fields after the completing construction are as seeing in the pictures below.
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| (Absorption fields after the completing construction; August 12, 2006) |
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| (An excavator bucket temporarily left; August 12, 2006) |
The deironing station and the water reserve are already in operation as seeing below, two years later since the beginning of construction.
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(The deironing station and the water reserve two years later
since the beginning of construction; March 08, 2008) |
The deep water well already in operation is as seeing here, two years later since the beginning of construction.
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| (The access road to the deep water well; March 08, 2008) |
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| (The deep water well two years later since the beginning of construction; March 08, 2008) |
These photos show that some old-aged pine trees left by the builders are with the bark on the trunks damaged during the construction works of the deep water well.
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| (Trunks of the old-aged pine trees damaged; March 08, 2008) |
Water-supplying installations and the adjacent territory are as seeing in 2009.
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| (The deep water well; May 03, 2009) |
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| (The deironing station; May 03, 2009) |
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| (The water reserve; May 03, 2009) |
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| (The cutting with the sewer line for sewage; May 03, 2009) |
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| (Adsorption fields; May 03, 2009) |
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| (Water leaked outwards from adsorption fields through the side-dam; May 03, 2009) |
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| (The access road to absorption fields; May 03, 2009) |
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| (Absorption fields in autumn; September 20, 2009) |
Conclusion. Undoubtedly, the construction of the new water intake and sewage disposal facilities with the use of modern technologies at the tourist center of the National Park "Belovezhskaya Pushcha" can be considered as the positive fact from the point of view of development and modernization of the infrastructure.
Nevertheless, it is achieved, unfortunately, again at the expense of damage causing to the wild nature of Belovezhskaya Pushcha.
1. Trees were cut down during the construction works. A lot of wood was cut down for making the sewage pipe line to the new adsorption fields.
2. The new adsorption fields have been placed in the area of the peatbog earlier drained within the Dokudovo natural boundary. It means the sewage which contain various chemical pollutions are delivered inside the Bialowieza Primeval Forest. If a program of restoration of the drained bog will be accepted in the future, the adsorption fields created now in this area will get incompatible with tasks of restoration of the wild nature. It is still a question whether the idea of delivery of sewage to the area of the old sewage treatment facilities as a part of the project was under examination or not. It seems that nowadays such way of the decision-making regarding this problem is technically quite feasible.
There is no information that the given project was under the ecological examination.
