VZCZCXRO3879
RR RUEHDBU RUEHLN RUEHPOD RUEHYG
DE RUEHVK #0113/01 2820351
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 090351Z OCT 07
FM AMCONSUL VLADIVOSTOK
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0810
INFO RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK NY
RUEHXD/MOSCOW POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUCPDOC/USDOC WASHDC 0021
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RUEHVK/AMCONSUL VLADIVOSTOK 0873

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 VLADIVOSTOK 000113 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
MOSCOW FOR ESTH, DESK FOR PATTERSON 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: SENV ECON PGOV RU
SUBJECT: REVERSING VLADIVOSTOK'S WATER QUALITY DECLINE 
 
VLADIVOSTO 00000113  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
¶1. (U) Summary.  A recent conference in Vladivostok highlighted 
the seriousness of pollution in the waters off the city's 
picturesque coastline.  Untreated sewage, a lack of pollution 
controls, and unchecked dumping not only threaten the region's 
unique wildlife but also its human inhabitants.  The pollution 
is bad, but the conference demonstrated that local authorities 
are aware of the problem and searching for ways to remedy it. 
End summary. 
 
¶2. (U) Last week's Marine Ecology 2007 Clean Port Conference 
highlighted the vast environmental challenges facing Vladivostok 
but also showed the depth of support for taking action.  A year 
ago the director of the Sea Protection Institute of 
Vladivostok's Maritime State University declared the city the 
"most polluted port in the Russian Far East."  Sewage has been 
mostly untreated for the last 35 years, a one-million-ton 
garbage dump smoldering on the shoreline outside of the city 
leaches contaminants into the sea, industry continues to dump 
heavy metals and other contaminants into regional waters, and 
shipping companies are not required to install pollution 
controls on their vessels.  Yet the high dive towers and swim 
ladders dotting the city's shoreline are testament to 
Vladivostok's once pristine waters.  Even now, on particularly 
beautiful summer days, residents frequently disregard the "no 
swimming" signs and take the plunge. 
 
¶3. (U) The pollution endangers not only humans, but southern 
Primorye's unique environment as well.  The waters around 
Vladivostok are spawning grounds for salmon, pollock and 
herring, and the coastline hosts 13 sea bird colonies.  As many 
as 100 species in the area are endangered, including 48 that are 
unique to Primorye, according to Greenpeace. 
 
¶4. (U) Russian, Japanese, American, Norwegian, and South Korean 
experts presented over 90 reports at the conference.  Scientists 
said Vladivostok's problems are two-fold: inadequate 
infrastructure and insufficient enforcement.  They posited that 
Vladivostok's Golden Horn Bay could again be made safe for 
swimming, but only with the investment of hundreds of millions 
of rubles and the creation of a single agency responsible for 
water quality.  The conclusions of the conference will not be 
published for another month, but one paper will suggest that an 
investment of 30 million rubles per year will significantly 
improve the health of the bay by the year 2012 -- in time for 
the APEC summit in Vladivostok. 
 
¶5. (U) Vladivostok's city official say they are aware of the 
continuing damage that untreated pollution is doing to the 
environment -- and also the city's potential as a tourist 
destination.  In an earlier conversation with CG, they said that 
with federal help they are working to install new waste 
treatment centers, which should come online soon if they can 
solve the "not in my backyard" problems.  But they acknowledged 
that one major source of marine pollution, the flow of untreated 
run-off from the city's streets into the ocean, remains beyond 
their means to remedy.  This run-off is particularly dangerous 
because it includes chemicals released by crumbling asphalt and 
other ground pollutants that never make it into the city's 
sewage system and so cannot be treated, even once treatment 
centers are running.  In order to solve the problem, Vladivostok 
requires an effective means of channeling surface run-off into 
the sewage system -- a massive undertaking that would require 
redesigning many of the city's streets. 
 
¶6. (U) To address the challenge, the conference program included 
a number of roundtables, including: creation of coastal 
conservation areas, environmental monitoring, coping with 
invasive species, oil spill prevention, environmentally-friendly 
technologies, recycling, resource management, industrial impacts 
on marine biota, and environmental education.  The conference 
also featured booths for maritime and environmental products, a 
World Wildlife education booth, and a Foreign Commercial Service 
(FCS) catalog show highlighting American firms involved in waste 
management and environmental technology.  These firms included 
Applied Science Associates (analysis of marine, freshwater, air, 
and land resources); CMC Rescue (specialized rescue equipment); 
Filtra-Systems (industrial filtration and separation products); 
Liquid Waste Technology, LLC (dredges and remote control pumps); 
and SCIENCO/FAST Systems, Inc. (technologies for water 
treatment, oil/water separation, and reverse osmosis). 
 
¶7. (U) The conference was sponsored by the Sea Protection 
Institute, Maritime State University, Far Eastern State 
Technical University, UNESCO, the Russian Academy of Science, 
World Wildlife Fund (WWF), the All Russian Scientific and 
Research Institute of Nature Protection, and the Primorskiy Kray 
Administration.  Participants included representatives from some 
major companies that could make a huge impact, for better or 
 
VLADIVOSTO 00000113  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
worse, on the environment, including Rosneft, Sakhalin Energy 
and Exxon.  CG gave welcoming remarks and a television interview 
congratulating the organizers and commenting that a clean 
environment is not only a quality of life issue, but is good 
business as well. 
 
¶8. (U) Pollution problems along Russia's Pacific coast are not 
restricted to Vladivostok.  The rich fishing grounds off the 
coast of scenic Kamchatka may become a new environmental 
battleground as testing is revealing the presence of significant 
offshore petroleum deposits in the region.  World Wildlife Fund 
Kamchatka Director Laura Williams, in town to attend the Clean 
Port conference,told CG and PolOff that future oil development 
must be balanced with conservation of the region's environmental 
resources, as well as preservation of Kamchatka's vital fishing 
industry.  She said that the salmon fishery in particular may be 
threatened by future drilling, since the waters off the west 
coast of Kamchatka are vital to young salmon. 
 
¶9. (U) Comment:  While new waste treatment plants, environmental 
legislation, and enforcement are vital, the first step towards 
improving Vladivostok's dangerous water quality may be 
instilling a sense of environmental awareness and responsibility 
in its citizenry.  Many visitors to the city are struck by how 
much litter there is on the streets.  Small-scale clean-up 
campaigns involving schoolchildren are already underway and are 
an important step, but more must be done.  That Vladivostok is 
set in a picturesque bay is indisputable, but to attract 
tourists, restore the fishery, and allow local residents to 
fully enjoy their maritime environment will require a sustained 
and expensive commitment from government leaders, industry, 
shipping companies, and local residents and a recognition of 
what a precious resource they have at their doorstep. 
THOMAS ARMBRUSTER