The 96-hectare “dump” filling Sergeli with a foul smell

A 96-hectare waste facility in the middle of the city

For several years, a foul smell has been mixed with the air breathed by thousands of people. The problem around the Salar wastewater treatment facility in Tashkent’s Sergeli district has also drawn the attention of the head of state. A QALAMPIR.UZ correspondent visited the site and studied the situation closely.

On April 12, 1961, the day Yuri Gagarin made the first spaceflight in human history, another important facility was launched in Tashkent. This was the Salar wastewater treatment facility. Since that day, for nearly 65 years, the complex has been operating day and night without stopping for even a minute.

Years passed. Tashkent expanded, and its population increased several times over. An area once considered the outskirts of the city is now surrounded by high-rise buildings, mahallas and busy highways. As a result, the facility often referred to as the city’s “filter” has ended up right in the middle of a residential area.

Sewage wastewater from seven districts of the city flows into the Salar facility. The complex has a capacity of 960,000 cubic meters per day. In practice, 860,000-900,000 cubic meters of wastewater are received and treated there every day. It is the largest wastewater treatment facility in the capital.

Around such a large facility, the sanitary protection zone should be at least 500 meters, and in some cases 1,000 meters, according to international standards. However, today, some residential buildings are located just 50 meters from the facility. This indicates that sanitary requirements were grossly violated many years ago.

One of the factors further worsening the situation is that a major road was built through the area adjacent to the facility. Every driver passing through this road and thousands of residents living nearby feel the foul smell almost every day. As a solution to the problem, the Salar wastewater treatment facility is planned to be gradually moved to Quyichirchiq district.

However, the project has not yet moved into the implementation stage. For now, as a temporary measure, an air purification filtration system is planned to be installed.

According to officials, a special air filtration unit worth nearly 9.5 billion soums is expected to be purchased from Russia. The equipment is planned to be delivered in the coming weeks and put into operation by September.

It would not be right to look for the culprit in only one organization. On one side are officials who allowed construction in the sanitary protection zone without complying with urban planning rules. On another side are certain entrepreneurs who ignored environmental requirements. And on yet another side is a system that turned a blind eye to violations for years.

Some enterprises consider it cheaper to pay fines than to invest in filtration equipment to properly treat their wastewater. As a result, the price is paid not by the state or by businesses, but by ordinary citizens with their health.

To learn more about the details of the case, watch the video on QALAMPIR.UZ’s YouTube page.