List of Azerbaijani beaches closed to swimming made public

In connection with the start of the 2009 beach season, the Republican Center of Hygiene and Epidemiology (RCHE), together with the Caspian Integrated Environmental Monitoring Department of the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources, monitored the readiness of Baku beaches for the summer season and carried out laboratory tests of seawater quality indicators.

According to the RCHE, repairs have been completed at the wastewater treatment plant located in the Mardakan-Shuvelan sanitary protection zone. Full mechanical and biological treatment and disinfection of the wastewater discharged into the sea is now in place. According to the results of laboratory tests of seawater taken at the Mardakan-Shuvelan, Buzovna, Zagulba, Pirshagi, Bilgah, Nardaran and Turkan beaches, its quality indicators are within the norm.

At the same time, there are still cases of intensive seawater pollution from untreated wastewater discharged from settlements into the sea within the sanitary protection zone of the Sahil beach in Garadagh district and the Shikh beach in Sabail district. The discharge of wastewater into the sea within the sanitary protection zone of the Novkhani beach from the settlement of Novkhani and the dacha area, as well as from the settlement of Jorat, has led to pollution of the beach area and the seawater. Preparations for the summer season here have been poorly organized, garbage removal has not been ensured, and puddles and reed-overgrown swamps formed by wastewater have created unsanitary conditions.
The seawater within the sanitary protection zone of the Hovsan beach has been polluted because 150-200 thousand cubic meters of industrial, utility and household wastewater are discharged into the sea every day through the "Hovsan" canal intended for wastewater discharge. In addition, wastewater from the Hovsan aeration station is discharged directly into the sea.

The tests also showed that bacteriological pollution indicators of the seawater at the Shikh, Sahil, Novkhani and Hovsan beaches are above the norm. Given that the current situation poses a serious threat to public health, as well as the possibility of infectious diseases emerging and spreading, a ban has been imposed, on the basis of the law "On Sanitary and Epidemiological Well-being", on the use of the Shikh, Novkhani, Hovsan and Sahil (Garadagh district) beaches, as well as illegal beaches.

www.apa.az