In Russia’s remote Far East, a team of environmental officials has conducted a cleanup operation along the banks of the Kaban stream in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. The initiative marks a continued effort to restore the local waterway, which suffered a significant pollution incident less than a year ago.
The cleanup was organized as part of the “Water of Russia” nationwide environmental program, a campaign that has been held annually in the Kamchatka region since 2017 to mobilize volunteers and address pollution in local water bodies. This recent effort saw 19 employees from the regional Ministry of Natural Resources and Ecology participate in the event.
During the operation, the team cleared approximately one kilometer of the stream’s shoreline, collecting a total of 1.5 cubic meters of miscellaneous waste. The Kaban stream, a small waterway less than 10 kilometers in length, has been a focus for environmental recovery following a serious contamination event.
This cleanup is particularly poignant given that in October 2023, the same stream was polluted by a major fuel oil (mazut) spill. At that time, emergency crews worked for three days to remove an estimated 1,000 liters of toxic oil sludge. The latest action represents another step in the long-term struggle to rehabilitate the fragile urban ecosystem of this Pacific peninsula.