OREANDA-NEWS. July 23, 2008.
Protection of Air Quality
The most important issue for environmentalists and company personnel is the construction of purification facilities in steel melting shops number one and three, reported the press-centre of DNEPROSPETSSTAL.

The debate about this has been going on for years: "The Program on Overcoming the Ecological Crisis in the city of Zaporozhye for the years 2001 through 2010" provided for decommissioning of shop number two and installation of purification facilities in shop number three. DNEPROSPETSSTAL specialists proposed a series of corrective actions detailing types of conservation activities with corresponding deadlines.

The proposed changes were added to the environmental protection agreement signed by OJSC DNEPROSPETSSTAL, the Regional Council of Zaporozhye and the Ministry for Environmental Protection on 12 June.

The agreement foresaw a rigid schedule for environmental measures including:

Construction and commissioning of purification facilities will be completed within two years. Start-up and set-up operations on the final facility should take place in April-May 2010.

A total of six gas purification systems will be built. The system will operate as follows:

Overhead canopies will cover the furnaces in the shops, collect all emissions from electro-steel melting furnaces and deposit them into a super-fine baghouse filter. A similar system is already operating successfully purifying the air in steel melting shop number two.

It reduced atmospheric dust emissions by more than 80% (from 750t to 150t a year). Dust emission levels for steel melting shops number one and two will drop by more than 50%, up to 1,000 tons a year. The total cost of the project in current prices exceeds 75 million hryvnias. The general contractor is PLAZA INVESTMENTS, LLC.

Protection of Water Quality
As of now the amount of industrial wastewater flowing into ZAPOROZHSTAL's sludge collector is approximately six million cubic meters a year. DNEPROSPETSTSAL has developed procedures ensuring that the level of industrial effluents will be reduced by 2.5 million cubic meters a year by 2010.

The reduction of industrial effuents will be accomplished through the construction of a series of plants pumping wastewater back into the recirculation network and reconstruction of the existing systems. The costs will approximately amount to nine million hryvnias.

Industrial Waste Management
The approximate volume of recycled waste stored in the industrial dumps of the Sredniaya gully is two million tons a year. This decreases the technogenic load and negative impact on the environment by widening the ecologically safe zone and reducing the area affected as well as offering the potential for land recultivation.