Residents of settlements along the Irpin river have been warned of possible danger after water bodies in a neighbouring community were contaminated. This concerns Stoianka, Irpin and the settlements of the Hostomel community — all of them downstream from where the contamination was recorded.

The warning was circulated in Irpin.

What to avoid until the tests are back

Residents are advised not to swim or fish, not to use river water for watering gardens or other household needs, and not to cook any fish caught there or feed it to pets. The restrictions stand until laboratory results arrive.

A separate point concerns wells and boreholes: that water should not be drunk raw but boiled first, or replaced for now with bottled water. This matters most in private housing areas with no mains supply, where nearly every household has its own source in the yard.

What happened upstream

A mass fish die-off was recorded in the water bodies of the Borshchahivka rural community — about three tonnes. Substances of unknown origin entered the Borshchahivka river, which is a right tributary of the Irpin, so its water continues north past Stoianka, Irpin and Hostomel.

The cause was named by the Kyiv Regional Military Administration. According to its head, Tymur Tkachenko, while a burst sewage collector was being repaired, waste water was pumped into Kyiv's storm drainage network, which flows into the Borshchahivka community's water bodies. Police have opened an investigation under the article on breaching water protection rules.

When it will be clear how dangerous this is

Specialists from the State Environmental Inspectorate and the State Consumer Service took water samples at different points and samples of the dead fish. The laboratory tests are to establish not only the origin of the substances but the extent of the contamination — how far downstream it has reached.

Until then the advice stands, and boiling well water is the cheapest precaution available. Results and further steps are promised separately.

Earlier we reported what residents of the Borshchahivka community were told not to do after three tonnes of fish died.

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