Russians in the Siberian city of Tyumen are up in arms over a weeks-long nightmare they say authorities have ignored in favor of focusing on Vladimir Putin’s war.
“It’s some kind of apocalypse. The water reeks, the air reeks, the city is under water. And no proper measures are being taken—as far as they [the authorities] are concerned, everything is ‘fine,’" a local woman named Elizaveta told the independent media outlet Meduza.
“What’s happening with the water in Tyumen can’t be summed up in a couple of words. A terrible smell, the entire periodic table, dead fish, and poultry-farm waste in our water,” said another resident, Albina.
Local authorities blamed heavy flooding from the Tura River and spent two weeks insisting the water was completely safe, even as residents reported falling mysteriously ill.
“Huge red blotches have spread across my body; they swell up, and they itch and burn unbearably,” said Albina.
People are afraid to bathe or shower in the water, let alone use it to wash produce or even give it to their pets.
One resident told the independent media outlet SOTA that she drank the water after authorities reassured the public it was still safe for consumption–only to be sick for five days afterward.
“No one is helping,” she said.
Another resident said ordinary Russians in Tyumen had been left to fend for themselves because “all the financing is going towards those three famous letters,” a reference to the Kremlin’s preferred term for the war in Ukraine, the SVO (special military operation.)
“What is this, then? What is that smell? You can’t stand to be anywhere in the city near the Tura — it reeks, pardon me, of s--t. And dead fish are floating along the banks. And today, in a local social media group, I even saw a dead roe deer floating by," one man told Meduza.
A criminal investigation was finally launched into the cause of the pollution this week and an emergency declared after weeks of public outrage. The head of Russia’s Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykin, has asked for a progress report.
Bastrykin is an old school friend of Putin, and he is reportedly also in charge of suppressing opposition to the regime.
“In 50-odd years I’ve never seen water problems like this. It used to come out yellow sometimes, but it never smelled of feces the way it does now. And meanwhile they’re trumpeting everywhere that there’s no problem at all,” said a man identified as Yevgeny.
A cistern of clean water was brought into the city on Friday and footage showed massive lines of people lining up to fill bottles with it to take home.
A 360 kilometer stretch of the river is reportedly under investigation, and authorities have said the cause of the odor and discoloration of the water is oxygen deprivation.
Record-breaking rainfall for the region—approximately 260 percent of monthly rainfall in June, coupled with abnormally hot weather, washed tons of soil into the river, the fisheries agency’s official explanation said.
The Tura was unable to cleanse itself so the organic matter began to oxidize, removing almost all the oxygen from the water and suffocating the fish.
Residents were advised on July 24 not to drink the tap water, weeks after they first started complaining.
People in Tyumen are not buying the official explanation, saying there’s other factors at play, including poultry waste, and that authorities are ignoring the problems.
“None of this will [end] soon: it will be a very long time before any measures are taken. The consequences will be terrible — for people, for agriculture, and for the river ecosystem," one woman said.
