Environment

Baikal (origin: greenpeace)

Todays industrial production at the Lake Baikal often results in water pollution because of the absence or the incorrect installation of treatment technologies. Monitoring studies showed alterations in the population of fauna and flora. For example the destruction of spawning sides in the selenga delta caused a significant decrease in fishing rates and increased parasite plagues. The main pollution sources are the Selenga River (accounts for about 40 % of the whole water pollution), the Selenginsk Pulp and Cardbord Mill (SPCM) and the Baikal’sk Paper and Pulp Mill (BPPM). Two important ways of pollution exist: on the one hand through surface water like rivers, streams, and direct introduction and on the other hand through the contamination of the groundwater that is in a hydraulic interaction with the water of Lake Baikal (the shallowest aquifer is in a depth of 1,5 to 2 meters in this area). Another threat for the Lake Baikal is the increasing tourism. The area of Lake Baikal is a favourite recovery place for citizens of Irkutsk or other urban settlements. They go by car and camp near the shore. The problem here is solid and liquid waste which they leave behind rather carelessly. Also, camping is not restricted to designed camping areas. Tourism activities are also the most frequent cause for forest fires and peat fires. Annually, their results are huge destroyed areas and forests need a long period for regeneration in this climatic zone. Further harmful influences to Lake Baikal are the fishing industry that threatens the biodiversity and the food chain in the lake with all its consequences. The air pollution by power stations through the output of sulphur dioxide; the timber industry that clear-cuts the forests in the catchment of Lake Baikal, the discharge of communal sewage without purification, and the diffusive entry of pollutants by agriculture are the main causes for forest damages. But these points are surely not the only ones.
When we were on the ship, a separation of toilet waste into paper and organic substance was practiced, because bioconversion of paper has a severe effect on the lake water.

top