Discharge of Untreated Wastewater into the Lake

Balakchy Beach. In the Issyk-Kul region, there are 115 wastewater treatment facilities, including 98 in resort and health institutions, of which 29 have not been operational since 2008.

In the Issyk-Kul district, there are 77 wastewater treatment facilities, of which 15 are non-operational, 8 have been dismantled, and 7 are decommissioned.

The treatment facilities in the resort area of Issyk-Kul, Karakol, Cholpon-Ata, and Balakchy are morally and physically outdated and require urgent reconstruction.

Poorly treated wastewater and sewage introduce organic matter into the water bodies. Once in the water body, organic substances are partially dissolved in the water and partially settle to the bottom, where they form organic biomass in the bottom silt, which is subject to continuous decomposition by putrefactive bacteria and fungi. Water bodies with disrupted microbiological self-purification become saturated more quickly with unoxidized organic matter and biogenic elements, which irreversibly leads to eutrophication (swamping) of the water body — a change in the type of aquatic ecosystem from lake to swamp.