Chychkan Gorge. Major Oil Product Spill After the Accident
The Bishkek-Osh road experiences dozens of ecological disasters every year involving overturned fuel tankers, resulting in hundreds of tons of highly toxic petroleum products: kerosene, fuel oil, gasoline spilled into high-altitude transboundary water intake rivers: Ablu-Naryn-Kara-Baltinka, Chychkan, and cubic meters of contaminated soil with complete destruction of flora and fauna in the tens of meters around.
On August 12, 2020, an accident occurred at the 239th km (Chychkan) of the Bishkek-Osh highway, where the driver was repairing the wheels of the fuel tanker when a fire broke out. The driver managed to uncouple the trailer and move to a safe distance, at which point the tanker exploded.
To eliminate the consequences of pollution, technical reclamation is initially carried out worldwide. The spilled petroleum product is collected from the water and soil using sorbents. Contaminated soil is removed and stored at a special technical landfill, and clean soil is placed in the area from which the contaminated soil was taken. Throughout the entire time of recorded accidents involving fuel tankers on the Bishkek-Osh road, NOT A SINGLE (!) reclamation has been conducted.
High-altitude ecosystems are sensitive to any technogenic impact. If they are not cleaned of petroleum products in a timely manner, there will be a strong negative impact on the environment – for decades, remnants of diesel fuel will be leached by groundwater and oxidized in the soil.
At the same time, specialists note that the ecological damage is unlikely to be fully compensated. This concerns the cleaning of the surfaces and bottoms of rivers, as well as soil remediation. It is also noted that the maximum allowable concentrations of pollutants in rivers, where petroleum products enter in the event of accidents, may exceed the norm by hundreds of times.
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