The MPs from the inter-faction union UKROP ask the Minister of Ecology Ostap Semerak to take urgent measures in order to prevent human-made disaster that may occur because of contamination of the rivers Sluch and Homora by the industrial effluents of paper factories and public utilities. The relevant parliamentary inquiry to the Minister was read at the plenary session of the Parliament on May 20. It was signed by the MPs Oleksandr Dubinin, Valentyn Didych, Oleksandr Shevchenko, Vitaliy Kupriy and Andriy Denysenko.
“During almost three months there has been a significant social tension in Zhytomyr, Rivne and Khmelnytsky regions because of the catastrophic pollution of the rivers Sluch and Homora by paper factories and public utilities located in their basins,” says the inquiry of the deputies. The MPs refer to the results of the water analysis, taken from these rivers and indicating a high level of toxicity that leads to the extinction of flora and fauna.
The authors of the inquiry drew the Minister’s attention to the fact that because of pollution people’s lives and health are also under threat, especially of those who live along the waterway of the rivers in Khmelnytsky, Zhytomyr and Rivne regions. Under public pressure and because of numerous protests against the enterprises-polluters Zhytomyr regional state administration has even imposed the state of emergency on a local level, but the owners of harmful enterprises did not stop their criminal actions, stress the MPs.
“Taking into account the impending ecological state of the rivers Sluch and Homora, and a growing social discontent in the society, when the residents are under conditions of severe water-use restrictions, we ask you to take urgent measures in order to prevent ecological disaster,” states the inquiry. The MPs have also asked Ostap Semerak to initiate investigation and bring the guilty to responsibility.
