Lake Baikal Essay

Submitted By limey1963
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Pages: 5
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As the planet earth and mankind progresses into a new era of life on this planet, we have begun so see significant changes. Both the climate and environment have suffered greatly from our carbon footprints. Amongst other natural resources, the earths water supplies are becoming non-exitent. One of the worlds last clean water sources is Lake Baikal. It is located in south-east Siberia, Russia. Baikal is known as the 'Galapagos of Russia', its age and isolation have produced one of the world's richest and most unusual freshwater faunas, which is of exceptional value to evolutionary science. It is the deepest and the oldest lake in the world. It’s depths reach 1,700 m, making it possible for Baikal to contain 20% of all fresh running water on the planet, making it the single largest reservoir. The lake itself is about 25 million years. This ancient natural reservoir has now become endangered from industrial destruction. Baikal is surrounded by a system of protected areas that have high scenic and other natural values. The basin hosts 1,085 species of plants and 1,550 species and varieties of animals, 80% of which are endemic. The most notable is the Baikal Seal - Nerpa, a uniquely freshwater species.[1] The water in Baikal is uniquely pure and clean, that you can see the bottom as far as 40 meters deep. It is even safe to drink water from Baikal, which many people who live there do. However, there are serious threats of pollution at Lake Baikal and there is a danger that its unique ecosystem properties could be lost. One of the major reason for it is considered to be Baikalsk Pulp and Paper Plant (BPPP). The mill is located on the south-eastern shore of the Siberian lake in the town called Baikalsk. It is considered to be a "monotown" - meaning that its infrastructure largely depends on one single enterprise. The Baikalsk Pulp and Paper mill first opened back in the Brezhnev era in 1966. Ever since its inauguration, Russian ecologists and NGOs have been struggling to shut it down. The plant produces bleached cellulose. It bleaches paper with chlorine and discharges the wastewater's into Baikal. Ecologists say the mill has been spewing thousands of tones of dioxins and other harmful by-products into Baikal. “The waste waters of the Plant go through four stages of treatment: complete biological, chemical, mechanical and additional biological treatment. Nevertheless, they are not entirely freed of harmful substances. After being diluted twenty times they are discharged through a deep dispersing outlet 150 meters from the shore at a depth of about 40 meters. The level of mineralization of the discharged waters is extremely high. Even the permissible standard for the total mineralization of the waste waters of the plant exceeds the mineralization of Baikal's waters more than six times, the permissible level for sulphates exceeds their content in Baikal's water more than sixty times, and almost two hundred times for that of chlorides. In such conditions it is senseless to deny or underestimate the pollution, and all the more since periodically the permissible limits are exceeded for technological reasons.”[2] But the business's owners deny doing any harm, and insist that the wastewater is clean. "It is clear that the primary material for paper pulp production is timber. And timber is rather ecologically friendly," the plant's director, Konstantin Proshkin, told BBC News.[3] Mr Proshkin pointed out that the factory had a unique four-stage system of wastewater cleaning facilities. Alexey Maltsev, explained that the water was subjected to biological and chemical cleaning. "During the bio-cleaning stage, we remove organic compounds and during chemical cleaning, we remove the lignin slurry. So the wastewater become clean and clear. "We respect all the necessary norms. Of course, Baikal water is unique and it is very difficult for the wastewater to be exactly like the water in Baikal. But the lake's water
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