Novosti from Sovfoto Sedi 5 : paentation tanks for the biological purification of sewerage on the Kama River, part Upt Complex that will purify all sewerage from Perm Region enterprises and will clean IS largest tributary of the Volga River. . LLIN OL Le Moscow copes with pollution By MIKE DAVIDOW MOSCOW i pee all great industrial cities, Mos- cow has its problems with pollu- tion. But after living here more than a year we have yet to experience anything resembling the smog scares so frequent in U'S. industrial cities. A discussion with Alexander Yanovksy, chief of Moscow’s General Planning In- stitute, and his deputy, Yuri Sokolov, explained some of the reasons for this “abnormal’’ situation for a great city. Natural gas, which has the lowest per- centage of noxious substances of any fuel, accounts for more than 70% of all the fuel used for heating and cooking in Moscow. It was 30% 10 years ago. By 1980 it will be 95%. Moscow, which now gets its gas from Central Asia, will get a massive addition- al supply from western Siberia. I recall in 1966 and 1967 that Con Edi- son, the utility monopoly which is “the largest single producer of foul air in the city of New York’’ (Mayor’s task force on pollution), refused to even consider using natural gas because of the expense. It insisted on waiting a full year before it would even use oil .with a lower sulphur content. Moscow, of course, can’t yet compare ‘TASS from Sovfoto Cc é : pees for the purification of oil-polluted ballast water formerly discharged by a ers in the port of Batumi on the Black Sea. After processing, clean water flows back © the sea and the oil residue is piped to a base for use by enterprises. In : : P Reset en for the biological purification of water used in coal-tar chemical production a e Kuznetsk Iron and Steel Works in western Siberia. The process reduces the phenol ntent from 350 mg. per liter of waste water to 5 mg. Novosti trom Sovfoto point Sokolov stressed that the decision of the inspection commissions, composed of representatives of workers, scientific and people’s organizations, is law. He reported that a factory in Noguisk which violated the pollution norm was closed down for six months. Others were treated in similar fashion. But such violations are, on the whole, rare. Sokolov said that many Moscow plants were being equip- ped with effective anti-pollution equip- ment, and cited the huge Moscow Auto factor (Likhachaev) and many chemical plants as examples. To reduce pollution in the auto plant a special metal melting shop was built in Ryazan. But Moscow f es a special problem, Sokolov admitt, The city has many factories built during Czarist years, m any of which were located in the center of Moscow. Many of them (more than 500) were moved into industrial zone areas set up by the city. Those too old to use were demolished and replaced by new factor- ies. Zoning occupies a \ery important place in Moscow’s immediate as well as long range plans. The perspective is to move industries more and more beyond the city’s limits. Green belts are being built around the plants. Almost every factory I visited is surrounded by a park-like area. Flower Likhachaev auto factory in Moscow. with New York in the number of auto- mobiles on its streets. But traffic is quite ‘heavy (much heavier than 3 years ago when I last visited the city). Yanovsky said the Moscow Soviet (City Council): - paid great attention to the problem. For one thing all vehicles in Moscow must use the highest quality gasoline and oil. Yanovsky said research revealed that the greatest amount of exhaust was discharged at crossroads when. traffic- stopped for red lights. Pedestrian under- passes which provide a safe and com- fortable passageway under most of Mos- cow’s main streets decreased by 10-15 times the amount of noxious fumes in- haled by Muscovites. The underpasses also decrease accidents and help speed up traffic. I asked Yanovsky how Moscow dis- poses of its garbage. He said that most of Moscow’s annual 2 million tons of gar- bage is not burned; it is sorted out in eight huge sanitation plants (metal is separated from it), purified, turned into compost by a special biological process and used as fertilizer. The entire process takes two to three days. He said that the garbage which could not be disposed of this way was burned in smokeless incin- erators. Thus, unlike New Yorkers, Mus- covites do not inhale their garbage. Sokolov said the city is grappling with the problem of air pollution along three . main lines: introduction of anti-pollution equipment (this includes increased use of least noxious fuel); moving of industries or residents; and strict systematic in- spection to determine where pollution norms are being exceeded. On the last pots on huge machines are. common sights. And the c.ty itself abounds in parks and tree-lined streets. Every apart- ment house has its green backyard. Zones of pollution are set (within which homes are not to be constructed). They vary according to the character of the enterprises and extend up to a radius of one kilometer (three-fifths of a mile). Moscow had to grapple with the prob- lem: should the industries or the homes be moved out of certain areas? The city administration finally decided to impose wider zones and to move out of the re- vised areas those homes within the new borders. Today’s Moscow is one of the cleanest cities in the world. Ten thousand sanita- tion trucks clean the streets daily aided by thousands of incessant sweepers. Huge plants purify all of Moscow’s dirty water from toilets and industrial plants by means of a special biological process. During the past eight years hundreds of _ plants have been equipped with purifica- tion systems. More than 98% of the puri- fied water can be used again for indus- trial purposes. Moscow does confront problems of water pollution, however. The Yaza river, a small river on which many plants are located, is polluted. So are parts of the Moscow River. But the problem doesn’t approach that which exists in the Hudson and East Rivers in N.Y. Bathing is safe along 60% of the beaches on the shores of Moscow River. But neither Yanovsky nor Sokolov gave the impression of com- placency. On the. contrary, Moscow views any pollution as too mueh. PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FRIDAY, JULY 31—Page 3