Work on New St. Petersburg Sewage Treatment Plant to Officially Start on March 21

The official opening ceremony of the building site for the new sewage treatment plant in the south-west district of St. Petersburg will be held on March 21. As the press office of Vodokanal Saint Petersburg announced, the new plants will significantly reduce the level of polluted water entering the Gulf of Finland and also improve the environmental situation in the gulf.

The main purpose of the plants is to reduce the output of untreated waste water in St. Petersburg by 2005. Specialists estimate that the plants will treat about 85% of the city's sewage. Moreover, it will become possible to construct more residential buildings in the south-west and central areas of the city.

St. Petersburg Governor Vladimir Yakovlev and Presidential Plenipotentiary to the North-West Federal District Valentina Matvienko will take part in the opening ceremony together with Director of Vodokanal Saint Petersburg Felix Karmazinov.

This project is the largest of its kind in Europe and its cost is estimated at around EUR 150 million. It is the biggest investment of the last decade in protecting water resources in the Baltic Sea.