Volunteers have completed shoreline cleanup work in Gizel-Dere.
The volunteer headquarters that spent two weeks cleaning up oil spills on the beach in Gizel-Dere has been disbanded. Further work will be carried out under the supervision of the local administration.
As reported by the "Caucasian Knot," the volunteer headquarters in the village of Gizel-Dere was established after an oil spill at the Tuapse Oil Refinery. On the morning of May 23 alone, volunteers collected 70 bags of oil in Gizel-Dere, reporting that work is continuing on other beaches in the Tuapse District, particularly in the village of Tyumensky.
The volunteer headquarters, organized by residents of the Tuapse District in the village of Gizel-Dere to clean up oil spills on the beach, has been disbanded after two weeks of work. The "My Tuapse" Telegram group announced today that the headquarters had ceased operations.
According to headquarters representatives, the local residents who organized the headquarters had originally planned for a two-week period. As a result, the Gisel-Dere volunteers operated from May 12th to 25th, during which time they collected 250 bags of oil-contaminated gravel.
"Maintaining and organizing the headquarters is a complex and expensive task, and residents' resources are limited," the publication states.
During their work, the headquarters volunteers held on-site consultations with two environmentalists, organized water and soil sampling for laboratory testing, and tested two water and beach purification technologies. They also agreed with the administration to continue cleaning not only the central beach but also the uninhabited beach.
“As of today, the beach is 80% cleared, the competent authorities are taking on the remaining 20% (new emissions) and promise to complete the work by the start of the season, June 1,” the statement stated.
The consequences of pollution in Tuapse cannot be considered completely eliminated, and an objective assessment of the situation is impossible without open information about the scale of the spill, ecologists interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" on May 24 indicated.
On May 1, a fire broke out at the Tuapse sea terminal after a drone attack. It was extinguished on May 2. This fire was the fourth in Tuapse since April 16. Earlier, on April 24, after booms broke due to rising water levels in the Tuapse River, an oil spill occurred into the Black Sea. A series of attacks on Tuapse's oil infrastructure led to environmental consequences, according to the "Caucasian Knot" report "Fires and 'Oil Rains': Key Information on the Environmental Disaster in Tuapse".
A regional emergency regime is in effect throughout the Tuapse District. For information on emergency assessment criteria, response levels, structures, and resources for dealing with the consequences, please see the Caucasian Knot's "Emergency Situation Regime" (EMERGENCY SITUATION) page.
Caucasian Knot has compiled materials on the "Eco-Disaster in Kuban" page.