MOSCOW — Russia’s big cities all had pollution levels well above advisable limits and halt of Russians drank water below sanitary norms, officials said on Friday in a damning report on the nation’s environment.

Environment Protection Minister Viktor Danilov-Danilyan said: "In the 60 to 70 largest Russian cities, the air pollution level is at least 10 times higher than normal several times a year."

According to the report, of Russia’s 148 million people, some 40 to 50 million are exposed to air pollution 10 times higher than normal and another 55 to 60 million have to live with a five-fold excess in various harmful substances.

Mr Danilov-Danilyan, presenting the report at a news conference, said pollution exceeded "maximum recommended levels" several times a year in many Russian cities, especially in the industrial centre.

"In Russia, virtually all ~ the major towns do not meet their own standards of air quality," he said.

Car exhaust accounts for almost 44 per cent of urban pollution. Moscow, where the number of cars has increased dramatically in recent years, figured in the minister’s list of pollution black spots.

He blamed cars for 85 per cent of the capital’s air pollution and said his ministry was trying to persuade the authorities to make changes.

The previous Soviet government paid little attention to environmental protection, developing industrial giants which polluted cities and destroyed nature mercilessly.

The continuing industrial slump since the Soviet collapse has led to some decrease in waste, and environmental awareness has grown.

Mr Danilov-Danilyan said the slump in Russian industrial output did not herald a dramatic fall in industrial pollution.

"For a 50 per cent fall in output, pollution has only fallen by a quarter in the very best case, even 7 or 8 per cent in some regions," he said.

The government also lacks funds to organise effective environment monitoring. For, example, the Environment Ministry has money for only one helicopter inspection a month in each area.

‘Sometimes, it leads to sad consequences," he said.

"We spotted the oil spill in Komi republic only three weeks after it occurred," he said.

Last year’s spill, which sprang from a series of leaks on an ageing pipeline, is said by the World Bank and Greenpeace to total at least 100,000 tonnes, one of history’s largest. It has polluted rivers and streams around Usinsk, home to 70,000 people, and has reportedly reached the salmon-rich Pechora River downstream.

He also said water quality was bad in parts of Russia.

Cholera, spread by water, is present in Russia but virtually eradicated in the West. —Reuter, AP.

Source : The Straits Times, 4th June 1995

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