MINSK, 10 January (BelTA) - Providing Minsk with the cleanest water is the greatest feat of the present generation, Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko said at a ceremony to launch the Shchomyslitsa water pumping station on 10 January to provide Minsk with artesian water, BelTA has learned.
Today there is a lot of talk about space, launching satellites and construction of nuclear power plants, the head of state said. The president believes that the switching of cities to water supply from artesian sources is comparable to these large-scale projects.
“We lacked a third of the volume, and almost half of our population did not have artesian water. Although we used surface water, purified it. This is how the whole world lives,” the president said.
“They say we have no minerals. The biggest mineral we have is clean water. I have already said that the United Nations Organization once assessed the water and found out that we and Croatia had the cleanest water. Therefore, to provide a big city of almost two million residents with artesian water is the greatest feat of our generation” Aleksandr Lukashenko said. “I do not know even such countries that would have approached the matter with care for people. We could easily make do with what we had. We had good water, but now we have excellent water. Now Minsk lives like any village that uses water from wells. This is a very serious project, and I think Minskers will appreciate it. This is a great achievement.”
According to Minsk Mayor Vladimir Kukharev, the city has faced three systemic issues so far: water supply from underground sources, reconstruction of sewage treatment facilities and construction of a garbage sorting plant.
“The city uses 450,000 cubic meters of water daily. We had 330,000 cubic meters from underground sources, and about 120,000-130,000 cubic meters were daily supplied from surface sources (the Vileika water system). There were no such water reserves in the city and in the nearest territories in order to find these 130,000 cubic meters. They were at a distance of 35-40 kilometers from the city. To raise this water, 87 new wells were drilled and built, and more than 40 more were re-drilled. Some 114 kilometers of large diameter pipelines were built,” Vladimir Kukharev said.
According to him, the estimated cost of the project was Br850 million. However, thanks to the rapid pace of work and savings in procurement, it was possible to save about Br150 million. As a result, the whole project cost Br700 million.
“Today the city is fully supplied with water from underground sources. We will keep the system from surface sources: the water will be used by industrial enterprises as technical water, to meet the energy demand (CHP plants) and watering of Minsk (Minskoye Morye Lake and so on),” the Minsk mayor explained.
