Zeya reservoir - a source of prosperity for the region or the beginning of an ecological catastrophe?

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

Zeya Reservoir is a mighty reservoir reaching a depth of 93 meters. This amazingly beautiful and powerful structure, on the one hand, is regarded as a great blessing that contributed to the development of the economy and improved living conditions for people, and on the other hand, as a huge evil that violated the natural balance and caused harm to the environment. And both of these opinions are absolutely correct. Recently, the voice of the “greens” has been sounding more and more confidently and insistently that the water level in the Zeya reservoir carries an extreme danger. After all, if the integrity of the dam is broken, then all the settlements and cities located below the dam, along the river, will be washed away by powerful streams from the face of the earth.

Zeya reservoir changed the face of the Amur Region

The Far East Hydroelectric Power Station gave its first current in the late autumn of 1975. The hardest work and huge efforts were required in order to create the Zeya reservoir. But as a result, all settlements,located within a radius of several hundred kilometers, received cheap electrical energy. The power of the hydroelectric power plant is enormous. It produces up to 5 billion kWh of electricity per year. In addition, HPP specialists carry out additional activities. They regulate current frequencies, optimize peak loads in the system of the Far Eastern Energy Complex, maintaining the required active power indicators. In addition, the entire Zeya reservoir is under their constant control. Release of water is an event that is necessary during the onset of flood peaks so that the pressure on the dam cannot reach a critical point. At the same time, no accidents were allowed for the entire period of operation, and the entire Amur region sparkled with lights. Large enterprises were built here, industry developed.

The population received flood protection, light and heat

In the harsh winter season, thanks to the energy generated by the Zeya reservoir, or rather its water, the houses of the entire Far Eastern region of the Russian Federation, including the Primorsky Territory, Amur Region, Khabarovsk Territory, Chita and its entire region are heated. In addition, people stopped suffering and dying from catastrophic floods, which regularly, every 2-3 years, flooded entire villages, carried away livestock and belongings. Uncontrolled water flows caused irreparable damage to the fertile soil layer, which did not contribute to the development of the agricultural industry.

Negative factors

BDuring the design and construction of the hydroelectric power station, no one was embarrassed that the Zeya reservoir would flood a huge forest. Therefore, more than half of its bottom is covered with trees and shrubs. During the construction of the facility, new settlements were built to resettle residents from 14 villages subject to flooding. But the local authorities decided not to carry out the work on cleaning the forest, not seeing any threat in it. Today, flooded wood releases phenols as a result of decay, and their concentration is constantly increasing. This is one of the negative factors. Another is that the dam divided the river into two parts, so from the lower reaches the fish cannot rise to its upper reaches to spawn. Thus, the Zeya reservoir caused significant and irreparable environmental damage.