A scandal has erupted in the village of Ushkudyk in the Aktobe region over drinking water. Local residents complain about its quality and fear that after the connection of a meat processing plant under construction to the wells, there may not be enough water at all, reports infohub.kz.
As villagers told Astana TV, there are only three wells for 1,500 people in the settlement, one of which has long been out of service. The remaining two water sources also raise questions. People complain about interruptions and poor quality of the life-giving moisture.
"The pressure is very weak, and I won't even mention the quality of the water! This is not water, it's dirty sludge. Sometimes the electricity goes out, and the water supply stops too. Then when it comes back, it's just mud, not water. It's impossible to use!" said Batyr Yesenzhanov, a resident of Ushkudyk.
Now a new problem has been added to the existing one. A meat processing plant is being built near the village. And the enterprise plans to connect to the same well. Villagers fear that if the production starts consuming large volumes of water, there may not be enough for the residents themselves.
"There is no water in the wells, and it's impossible to drink from the borehole. We don't even give this water to livestock. Now the meat plant also wants to connect to our wells. We barely have enough water for ourselves! We are not against the meat plant itself, we are against the water from the village going to the needs of the meat plant. Let them drill their own well and use it," said Kalizhan Izbagambetov, a resident of Ushkudyk.
The local akimat confirmed that the enterprise will indeed connect to the village source. However, as officials assure, the water from the well will be used only for drinking needs in production. Underground exploration for additional water sources for Ushkudyk has so far yielded no results.
"Exploration work for Ushkudyk is underway. They haven't been able to find water reserves for two years. As for the meat plant, they are only allowed to use drinking water. And for technical water, since they will use more than 100 tons of water per day, the project provides for drilling their own well," assured Berik Akdauletov, akim of the Ushkudyk rural district.
But such explanations do not fully reassure the villagers. People want to be sure that after the launch of the new production, there will be enough water for everyone.