Residents of the village of Akmol in the Akmola Region have reported a deterioration in living conditions due to the operation of a poultry farm. According to them, the unpleasant smell, production waste, and insects are creating serious problems for habitation. The situation has been ongoing for several years and, the villagers claim, remains without a systematic solution.
WHAT IS HAPPENING IN THE VILLAGE
The publication Azattyq Rýhy reports that the villagers link the problem to the activities of the enterprise, which is said to contain around 1.2 million birds. According to residents, the carcasses of birds are disposed of and wastewater is discharged after processing near the settlement.
A local resident, Maulet Martaev, claims that the distance from the enterprise to residential houses does not meet the standards.
COMPLAINTS ABOUT HEALTH AND LIVING CONDITIONS
Some residents associate the deterioration of their well-being with the proximity to the production site; the smells are particularly hard for elderly people to bear. Furthermore, due to the environmental situation, it has become difficult to sell property in the village — the demand for housing has decreased.
ATTEMPTS TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM
An activist from the settlement, Saule Nurtazina, reported that a relocation option was previously considered, but according to her, local authorities refused to allocate plots out of turn.
As alternatives, legal proceedings and funding from the emergency budget were discussed, but these options were not implemented.
DISPUTE OVER THE SOURCE OF THE SMELL
Residents also cite the wastewater storage ponds used by municipal services as an additional factor. At the same time, a dispute has arisen between the enterprises: representatives of the poultry farm point to sewage sources, while the municipal services point to production waste.
The residents themselves believe that the main source of the smell is specifically the manure.
“The poultry farm houses about 1.2 million birds in 33 poultry houses. This, according to their estimates, leads to the formation of approximately 120 tonnes of manure daily, and this happens all year round. The manure is stored on special sites — so-called manure storage facilities,” stated Saule Nurtazina.
POSITION OF LOCAL AUTHORITIES
The Akim of the village, Zhanat Duisekeev, confirmed that the smell in the settlement is periodically noticeable, but linked it to the characteristics of the production process.
“Let the people themselves talk about the poultry farm, we have activists. There is a smell sometimes, but this is production. They change the filters. Let our activists contact the necessary organisations. There is a smell, but we are used to it,” commented the Akim.
The article also notes that residents have repeatedly sent appeals to the regulatory authorities, but in their opinion, there has been no proper response from the department of ecology and sanitary services.
A similar situation previously arose in the Aktobe Region, where residents of the village of Aksazdy also complained about a dump of poultry manure near the settlement. According to them, the waste caused a strong smell and concerns about the state of the drinking water.