Naryn Region, Kochkor District, Village of Tendik, Destroyed Warehouse of Obsolete Pesticides
Former collective farm pesticide warehouse. The warehouse is destroyed, no traces of hazardous waste have been found, there is a sharp smell, possibly soil contamination
In the Naryn region, 4 sites were identified from previous inventories, and one additional site was indicated by territorial representatives of the Environmental and Technical Safety Inspection (Burial sites in the Kochkor district). One site had incorrect coordinates, located in a high mountainous area without access for motor vehicles. In total, 5 sites were surveyed. There is no road to the burial sites in the Kochkor district, but it is possible to drive an off-road vehicle almost to the burial site. The remaining 1.5 kilometers had to be walked.
At the site of the former Raiselekhim plant, 4 km from the city of Naryn, 250 m from the settlement and 300 m from the Naryn River, there are 6 warehouses. Of these, one warehouse contains remnants of hazardous waste. The roof of the warehouse is permeable, and the doors do not lock. The warehouse is partially destroyed, and the packaging of the hazardous waste is completely destroyed. The area is fenced.
The former collective farm pesticide warehouse in the village of Tendik is completely destroyed, no traces of hazardous waste have been found, there is a sharp smell, possibly soil contamination. During the previous inventory, it was noted that "there is neither smell nor traces on the soil."
At the At-Bashinsky anti-plague station, there are two containers with outdated pesticides (DDT) and contaminated soil. Unlike the warehouse in Balykchy, the warehouses are not sealed but are under lock and key. The warehouse with contaminated soil also stores pesticides currently used for rodent control (carriers of plague). Thus, the warehouse with contaminated DDT soil is accessible to personnel, and the pesticides in use are stored in the same room as the DDT waste. There is a sharp smell in the area, presumably due to soil contamination at the repackaging site.
The waste passport is missing. The staff of the anti-plague station do not consider DDT to be waste and foresee the possibility of its use in case of a malaria epidemic or for sale. It is also necessary to seal the warehouses to prevent personnel access to hazardous waste, develop a waste passport, conduct explanatory work, and provide safety training.
The total amount of hazardous waste (excluding the burial site) requiring repackaging and storage is more than 3 cubic meters; in addition, there is a large amount of contaminated dust/soil/construction debris (the exact amount is currently undetermined, presumably more than 30 cubic meters).
In Oroo-Bashy, Kochkor district, 9 burial sites with DDT were discovered. The burial occurred in the 1970s. According to various sources, the burial took place in 1973 and 1978. Also, according to various data, the burial sites cover 0.8 hectares and contain between 270 and 800 tons of DDT.
In 2019, a local resident contacted the territorial office of the Environmental and Technical Safety Inspection regarding the excavation of the DDT burial site by local residents. An order was issued to the village council to fill the pit. These works were carried out (photos attached), but during the inventory, fresh excavations were discovered again. Some bags of DDT were damaged, and some were removed. Thus, there is uncontrolled use of hazardous waste (DDT), which in turn increases the risk to health and the environment. According to local residents, the smell is particularly noticeable after rains when the washed-out pesticides enter the canal from which residents of nearby villages take irrigation water. To prevent further theft of DDT, it is urgently necessary to repack the DDT and contaminated soil. Proper security must be provided until these hazardous wastes can be disposed of in an environmentally safe manner. The repackaging should be accompanied by a Risk Management Plan, the development of an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), obtaining a positive conclusion from the state ecological expertise, and conducting explanatory work with local government officials and the territorial division of the Environmental and Technical Safety Inspection.
Various data on the amount of buried DDT and the time of burial also require detailed study of archival data. It is necessary to ensure that the same site is being described and not two completely different burials in one area.
To date, despite the abundance of previously conducted projects on the inventory of outdated pesticides, contrary to national legislation:
• there are no laboratory data bases on the composition of waste;
• waste passports are missing;
• regular monitoring of the condition of outdated pesticide waste is not conducted (only within the framework of international projects);
• there is no executive authority responsible for the storage and disposal of waste;
• laboratories lack sufficient capacity to conduct analyses of outdated pesticides, including POPs;
• information on the composition of outdated pesticides is absent in the supervisory authorities;
• further research is required on the owners of some warehouses/land where points with outdated pesticides are located;
• training of local government employees and supervisory and controlling authorities is necessary;
• responsibility for improper handling of hazardous waste needs to be tightened.
Conclusions
In accordance with the Stockholm Convention on POPs (Article 6 (d) (ii)), POPs-containing waste must be destroyed. To find environmentally acceptable methods for the disposal of outdated pesticides, the exact composition of the waste is necessary. To this end, it is essential to address the issue of equipping laboratories, training personnel, and obtaining accreditation in accordance with GOST ISO/IEC 17025-2019.
In addition, it is necessary to continuously monitor the condition of points contaminated with outdated pesticides and to repack and place the waste in a temporary storage warehouse that meets national legislation requirements. Repackaging, construction of a temporary storage warehouse, and disposal must be accompanied by an EIA procedure and obtaining a positive conclusion from the state ecological expertise. For all waste, the owner must present waste passports and obtain permits for the storage of hazardous waste.
The process of storage and disposal of hazardous waste must be under the control of environmental supervisory authorities.
To this end, it is necessary to initiate the process of maximum legalization of the data obtained from the inventory.
Previous inventories did not serve as a basis for creating a monitoring system for the management of outdated pesticides. As a result, a large volume of uncontrolled hazardous waste has become a threat to the environment, life, and health of the population living near the sites of outdated pesticides.
Full report on the inventory of outdated pesticides (OP) in Chuy, Talas, Naryn, Issyk-Kul, Jalal-Abad, Osh, and Batken regions
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