Nitrate-levels too high in Simferopol springs
The results of recent CRAEM poll* showed that 82% of Simferopol inhabitants are not satisfied with their tap-water. And this is why almost all of them take definite measures to improve its quality: approximately 1/3 reported that they let the water settle in bottles for days or weeks first; more then half boil their water before consumption; and one fifth use filters for water purification.
Simferopol water supply comes from four reservoirs. The Ayanskoe, Simferopolskoe, Partizanskoe and Mezhgornoe reservoirs. Mezhgornoe is the largest, its water comes from the Dnipro river through Northern Crimean Channel. Water from others reservoirs is from mountain sources.
The Mezhgornoe serves about 50% of the population with water comes from into Dnipro river. Today this water is far from clean. The river gathers flows (and their contaminants) from all over Ukraine as it flows south towards Crimea. According to the current norms, this water is treated with hyper chlorination, especially as it is known to have significant levels of pollution from organic compounds. Such treatment can lead to formation of many different chlororganic compounds. For example, chloroform, trichloroethylene, chlorophenol and very poisonous dioxins.
The Municipal sanitary-and-epidemiologic station in Simferopol regularly conducts tests of the drinking water quality before it reaches our taps. And they report that the bacteriological indexes corresponds to all-Union State "Drinking Water" standards.
However, it's not that simple. The situation is complicated by the fact that water passing through water-pipes from the treatment center actually contaminates the water further. Not to mention that, regular leaks and cracks result in a lot of water simply not reaching the inhabitants period.
In regards to the condition of the water pipes, municipal water-supply extension is about 727 km of which 253 km of them are old and decrepit. Years of sediment and buildup (often poisonous) mixes with the treated water before it reaches our homes.
One more serious problem is reservoirs preservation from pollution. Today we see not only cafes and gas-stations, but also large dumps around all the reservoirs. This is happening in "conservative" zones, which are technically supposed to be off-limits to people completely!
That is why Simferopol inhabitants prefer to look for an "alternative" for tap-water and come to municipal springs for "cleaner water".
But are the municipal springs clean enough?
* poll was held in spring 2003 between Simferopol inhabitants. 377 people were questioned in three town's regions: Central Region (149 people), Kievskij Region (149 people), Railway Region (79 people).
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