The black Hole, Dzerjinsk – Russia, 2018
Located 400 kilometers on the east of Moscow near Nihni Novgood, Dzerjinsk was for a long time considered as the soviet capital of chemistry. From the beginning of the 20st century, but especially from the 1930’s, this small-town hosted dozens of conglomerates specialized in production of chemical weapons, plastic and detergents.
For years, chemical wastes were reversed into nature, contaminated permanently soils. Hundreds of discharges have been identified, including some sites considered particularly dangerous. Among those, the “ black hole“ : a kind of 20 meters deep ugly pit with a suffocating smell, and the “white sea“: 54 hectares covered with a thick layer of lime mixed with waste.
No studies have been made public on the human health consequences of these contaminations. The population has been kept in ignorance.
After the fall of the USSR and its industry, Dzerjinsk is now trying to revive its know-how with the establishment of a multitude of SMEs. At the same time, Russian authorities are trying to clean up the “black hole“, but nobody really knows how to solve the problem.
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