Black snow in Satpayev is associated with gases from the boiler house of Kazakhmys Distribution, the agency’s correspondent reports.
“On January 31, 2024, in the afternoon, almost all residents of the city of Satpayev witnessed the fall of “black snow.” It has been established that the fall of “black snow” is due to air pollution from the exhaust gases of the boiler house of Kazakhmys Distribution LLP,” the KazTAG editors answered in the Department of Ecology for the Ulytau region on Saturday.
In fact, as they say in the department, unburnt coal dust fell on Satpayev.
Experts said the direction of the wind contributed to the “black” precipitation. Environmentalists say that all boiler equipment of Kazakhmys Distribution is obsolete and incorrect operation of treatment facilities has been observed; a number of violations have been identified regarding the depressurization of equipment. In addition, “the boiler house is designed to consume high-ash coal and replacement with low-ash coal is technically impossible.”
The company has already been repeatedly subject to administrative penalties and issued orders.
“According to Kazakhmys Distribution LLP, the program for switching to gas turned out to be unfeasible due to the shortage of gas in the republic in a number of regions. Accordingly, the department has set a task to review it within a 10-day working period and replace it with measures to reduce emissions through the introduction of additional treatment systems or the adoption of technical solutions to actually reduce emissions of both gases and solids,” the department concluded .
Experts promise to inspect the boiler room in February.
