Lake Baikal tributary tol be cleared of wood debris in the Irkutsk region

Rosvodresursy allocated more than 9.6 million rubles to restore the throughput capacity of a tributary of Baikal, the Solzan mountain river. By the end of the year, it is necessary to clear four kilometers of the river bed and rid the estuary area of 1.8 thousand cubic meters of wood debris. The Russian Ministry of Natural Resources reported this on its website.

“Solzan is a mountain river 34.5 kilometers long, it begins in the northern part of the Khamar-Daban ridge and flows into Baikal in the area of Baikalsk with a population of 12.5 thousand people. The estuary part traditionally accumulates the largest volume of woody debris, pebbles and boulders, which impede the flow,” the department explained.

According to the head of the Yenisei BVU Rosvodresursy Sergei Kapustin, during floods, 10.7 hectares of territory where residential buildings, infrastructure facilities, communications and engineering structures are located may be at risk of flooding. “Flood clearance will prevent damage 70 times greater than the amount of funding from the federal budget. The effectiveness of such measures is confirmed by examples from practice: the previously cleared beds of the neighboring rivers, Bolshaya and Malaya Osinovka, passed the summer flood without difficulty,” the ministry quotes Kapustin.

As noted by the Ministry of Natural Resources, after the flood that occurred in the Slyudyansky district in July of this year, some of the wood debris was washed into the waters of Lake Baikal. A thousand cubic meters of sediment occupied an area of 50 hectares. “At the point where the Solzan flows into the lake, the area was cleared by the Vostsibregionvodkhoz branch of the Centerregionvodkhoz of Rosvodresursov. To eliminate the consequences, specialists used all available equipment: special cranes, dump trucks and a mini-loader. The mouth of the Kharlahty River continues to be cleared of debris from floating wood: in early October, repeated cleaning of 10 hectares was agreed upon,” the department reported.

Clearing Solzan will reduce risks during the next floods and eliminate the consequences of the July 2023 flood.