MOSCOW, August 27 (RIA Novosti) — The Russian government will spend $8 million on the protection of Lake Baikal and its surrounding territory. These measures will be taken by the authorities of Buryatia, and are expected to mitigate the negative impact of pollution and its consequences for the Baikal ecosystem.
The Russian government has unveiled that it will provide Buryatia with $8 million in order to protect Lake Baikal and its surrounding territory, particularly to reconstruct and build water purification plants and waste water treatment plants. The official document was published on the cabinet’s website Wednesday.
Baikal is the deepest lake in the world, with a maximum known depth of 1,637 meters. In 1996 Baikal was placed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List.
This year, the Russian authorities will spend nearly $17.5 million implementing a federal program to protect Lake Baikal in Irkutsk region, Buryatia and Zabaykalsky Krai.
This "signed decree authorizes [the government] to unveil a $8 million package to the Republic of Buryatia", the statement said.
According to the document, Buryatia will spend $2.5 million on modernization and the reconstruction of its water disposal system at Baikal, and nearly $4.8 million on building new purification facilities. The Russian cabinet will also spend more than $636.000 to build solid waste water treatment plants.
The "realization of these measures to protect nature, presumed by the signed decree, will mitigate the negative effect of pollution and its consequences for the Baikal nature area".
