Increase in Bureya HPP water discharge unavoidable - Emergencies Ministry
MOSCOW. Aug 14 (Interfax) - A tentative decision has been made to increase water discharge from the Bureya hydro power plant (HPP), steps are coordinated with the administrations of the regions in the river flood zone, head of the national crisis management center of the Emergency Situations' Ministry Vladimir Stepanov has announced.
"The need is growing to increase the discharge from Bureya HPP, otherwise we will approach a critical level. This should be done considering the anticyclone that is now emerging in the Pacific, which will cross China and reach us in five days increasing the inflow from the Sungari river," he said at a press conference in Moscow.
"These are tentative decisions made today, they are being coordinated with the administrations of the territories," he said. "All this is done jointly in the framework of current legislation. The need [for the discharge] is realized by the authorities in the Khabarovsk territory and Amur region," he said.
"By the end of the day we should get approval from the Jewish autonomous region," Stepanov said. He said that the water discharge will raise the level in the Amur river in both the Jewish autonomous region and in the Khabarovsk territory.
"Well-coordinated teams are operating in all regions taking preventive steps - building dams, restoring the banks and informing the population. After approval, the plans will be made known to public because we should be prepared for it," Stepanov said.
"Today we simply cannot do without it [water discharge]," he said.
