UNIT 12

POLLUTION IN UKRAINE

Pollution became evident in Ukraine with industrial development in the 19th century. Ukraine contains some of the most polluted landscapes in Eastern Europe.

Air pollution is especially severe in the heavily industrialized cities of Kharkiv, Luhansk, Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhzhia. Coalusing industries are major sources of high levels of uncontrolled emissions of harmful substances.

Other Ukrainian cities with major chronic air pollution problems include Kyiv, Komunarsk, Makiivka and Odesa.

Over one-third of the emissions into the atmosphere originate from automobile transport. It is aggravated by the use of leaded gasoline and inefficient engines as well as a lack of catalytic converters.

Almost all surface waters of Ukraine belong to the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov basins. The high population density and low protection have given rise to chronic and serious levels of water pollution in Ukraine.

The Dniester and the Danube are the most polluted bodies of water. Hundreds of small rivers supply water for villages and cities of Ukraine. Those water arteries are so polluted as to pose fatal health risk to the people who depend on them. About half of the chemical fertilizers applied in the fields are washed off into the river.

One of the areas suffering most from chronic coastal water pollution is the Sea of Azov. The sea's salinity has increased by 40 percent since the 1950's. It has resulted in a dramatic drop in fish catches by 60-90 percent.

On April 26, 1986 a horrible accident occurred at the Chornobyl nuclear station. There was a nuclear reactor explosion, which had far reaching consequences. Contamination by various radioactive isotopes has affected the air, land and water of Ukraine. About 100,000 people were exposed to deadly levels of radiation before being evacuated. Recorded but unreported radiation levels in Kyiv exceeded the maximum levels by hundredfold. Numbers of death and children leukemia have occurred in the affected areas. Significant areas of lands will remain unsafe for agriculture for 8000 years Workers enclosed the destroyed reactor in a steel and containment building, but radiation continues to leak from this structure. After Chornobyl disaster the environmental situation has become much worse. Ukraine appealed to the UNO requesting help to overcome the disaster aftermath.

The ecological organization Green Word is active in Ukraine. Since 1991 the Environmental Protection Law has been in force. Environmental safeguards of conservation bodies have become more stringent. Ecological monitoring has covered Ukraine’s whole area. Ukraine has joined

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