Ecologists in the Mangystau region are investigating two instances of wastewater discharge into the coastal zone — near the Caspian Riviera hotel and in the 9A microdistrict.
According to the press service of the regional department of ecology, specialists visited the site and documented the presence of pipes from which, according to eyewitnesses, the discharge occurred. Ecologists have taken samples and are now awaiting laboratory analysis results.
Information about the first incident was discovered by department staff during social media monitoring. Water with a characteristic odour and turbid structure was flowing from a pipe located near the Caspian Riviera hotel.
The second incident was recorded by a resident of Aktau in the 9A microdistrict — not far from one of the cafes on the embankment. A published video shows a stream of dirty water flowing towards the Caspian Sea.
"The department has instructed local executive bodies to identify the source of the pollution. Results will be provided shortly," the agency reported.
Additional measures for each of the incidents will begin to be applied after receiving the results of laboratory tests.
It may be recalled that in January last year, a video appeared online showing a dark liquid being discharged into Lake Karakol from the Rixos Water World Aktau hotel.
Activists suggested this was the cause of the death of a large number of swans and raised the alarm. In response to public demands, staff from the Mangystau regional department of ecology conducted investigations.
As a result, the agency identified an excessive content of pollutants in the waters being discharged into the lake by the hotel and initiated an inspection of Rixos Aktau.
In turn, the hotel's general manager, Serik Isagaliyev, assured that all discharged water passes through two storage tanks for treatment and is filtered, thereby confirming the discharge of wastewater into Lake Karakol.
Later, the former head of the committee for forestry and wildlife, Aituar Tuganbekov, stated that in 2020 he was categorically opposed to the plan to discharge water into Lake Karakol and refused to sign such an agreement.
However, he reported that the owners of the Rixos Aktau hotel nonetheless used their connections and secured the agreement through other means.
Despite this, ornithologists have their own version of the birds' death. According to their data, the cause of the mass die-off of swans on Lake Karakol is bird flu. Experts believe that the discharge of wastewater does not affect the death of the swans, but rather contributes to the diversity of birds in the lake.
On 23 January, the Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources, Erlan Nysanbayev, reported that ecologists had discovered 1,040 carcasses of dead swans on Lake Karakol.