«Water: magic and life»: the joint project of the Department of Applied Linguistics and the Department of Ecology
Thanks to Prof. Hanna Trokhimenko and PhD students Yu. Chestnykh, D. Gosteva
Discipline: General English. Level B2+.
Group: 3521.
Supervisor:Nina Filippova, Natalia Shamanova.
The aim: to collect the preliminary information for the oral presentation.
The tasks:
- a) to collect and analyse the necessary information;
- b) to compile minidictionaries;
- c) to illustrate the use of basic terms;
- d) to highlight the commitment of Myko citizens, researchers, authorities to solve the water challenge and not to lose our confidence in the better future.
Abstract. The project was carried out with the help of the information received from the Department of Ecology of the Admiral Makarov National University of Shipbuilding. The students collected and analyzed the data concerning the history of Mykolayiv water supply, the quality of drinking water, the present situation with the water supply and the most significant environmental issues that influence the standards of living of the inhabitants of the city. Also a short glossary containing the identified terms which have a specialized and technical meaning within the project, is included. The presentation is accessible sashadotss@gmai.com.
Key words: water supply, system, drinking water, water transportation, water analysis.
Introduction
In 2022 the full-scale invasion of Russia started. We all woke up because of the sirens and sounds of explosions all over Ukraine. That is why the first thing we want to do is to thank you Ukrainian forces for the opportunity to be here and for saving our lives. Donate to Ukranian Army! Help with everything you can!
After almost two months since the full-scale invasion of Russia, on the 12th of April, Russians destroyed the plumbing system of Mykolayiv – Dnipro, where the city took water. We still remember the first day when we went in the streets to get the water and how we were waiting in the queues. And the first thing that we thought of doing is to put our thoughts about the situation in Mykolayiv right now, but then we realize that people adopt and at the moment we don’t feel frustrated anymore when we go to get some water. Sadly, but that became the part of our daily life. And we have no idea when our life is going to change, but we know for sure that we have passed all this way not to return to where we been to before. That is why the main idea of our project is to show that people in Mykolayiv still living their lives, no matter water or other problems, they are still living! That is why we wanted to start with the history of the water transportation in Mykolayiv.
History of the water supplying in Mykolayiv
The water in Mykolayiv was an urgent question not only during the last two years, but more than 200 years ago. The city was founded in 1789 and the first governor of the city thought of making a water transportation in the city, that is why in 1791 almost 500 ceramic pipes were transported to Mykolayiv.
But before that, people used to use fountains or wells to get the water. The city was growing and more people were in need of water and that is why Aleksei Greig introduced the project of Mykolayiv’s water transportation to Aleksander the second in 1812. The author of that project was an engineer, Antoine Raucourt. He worked with a lot of different projects during his lifetime (bridges, defence buildings and many other).
And only after two years they started building it. Sometime later the new engineer made a new plan how to make a water transportation in the city. His name was Benhard van der Vlies; he was a hydrotechnical engineer and he made a lot of different projects in Odesa and he was meant to build a water transportation called «Spas’ka water supply system» that was designed for the centre of the city (from Spaskiy source and to The Admiralty). In 1874 the local administration started thinking how to build a new one. So they decided to build 40 points where people could take water and in 1882 they tried to build the water transportation again.
The engineer who was making the project told that he could construct a water suppling system that could provide citizens with water for 16 hours every day; and the quality of water as he said was going to be the same as in the wells. In 1883 the administration and Brungof, French engineer, worked in one of the districts of our city called «Vodopoy». There he managed to create a 110-meters well. But after checking the water there the results showed that it was not suitable to use, so the administration broke up the contract.
And in three years Erisman, professor, came to Mykolayiv and made a lot of interesting theories about water in Mykolayiv and said that they could build a really great water transportation system and use water from the Pivdeniy Bug, because it was cleaner than the Ingul’s water. They still should filter it, but he said that it wasn’t a big deal. But it never happened.
In 1894 the Water Supply Regulation Society, made a plan of designing new water supplying a chain and they said that it would be better to use ground waters. And they made 7 drilling holes all around the city. And in 1903 the administration founded the first water transporting commission in Mykolayiv and on the 22nd of May in 1904 they started building it.
Finaly on the 1st of April in 1906 they launched experimental water transportation that lasted for 21 months.
And finally now we would like to mention one of the Mykolayiv’s symbols – Mykolayiv’s water tower or Shukhov’s tower that was built in 1907. Shukhov was a Russian engineer, who worked all over the country with different projects (bridges, lighthouses, water towers). He suggested project in 1906 and the local administration approved it. They found the design nice and gave money to make this project completed. That tower allowed citizens to get water to their houses and made their life easier. During the Second World War it was highly damaged by German forces when they were leaving Mykolayiv in 1944.
The state of Mykolayiv’s water right now
Tap water
The current state of tap water in the city does not currently meet all the requirements for physicochemical parameters necessary for drinking water. While some indicators, such as pH level and overall hardness, meet regulatory standards, others, such as total mineralization and chlorides, exceed established levels. The most critical issue is the excess concentration of chlorides and total mineralization. This suggests potential water quality problems and necessitates further actions for purification and compliance with drinking water standards.
Dispensing points
The first analysis of the water from the dispensing points revealed that some indicators meet standards; for instance, the nitrate and nitrite content is within permissible levels. However, other indicators, such as sulphate and chloride concentrations, exceed regulatory limits, indicating potential water quality issues. Additionally, significant levels of permanganate oxidation should be noted, which could be indicative of organic contaminants
The later analysis of water from the dispensing point shows that the indicators of total hardness, nitrite content, and pH are within acceptable levels. However, the concentration of sulphates and chlorides exceeds established norms, indicating water quality issues. It’s also worth noting the high content of permanganate oxidation, which may indicate the presence of organic contaminants in the water.
The general analysis of water from the dispensing points indicates that some parameters meet drinking water standards, but there are also problematic aspects such as exceeding the norms for sulphate, chloride, and permanganate oxidation concentrations. This could pose a health threat to those consuming this water. Exceeding chloride levels may lead to kidney and heart issues, while elevated permanganate oxidation levels could potentially be harmful to health. Considering these factors, consuming water from this dispensing point may be hazardous to human health.
2022-2024
In this section we would like to talk about our feeling and how do we adopt to the problems with water that we are facing right now. And we remember the time when we heard that we were not going to have water for a couple of days and these couple of days turned into years and we still facing problems with the water, but people became stronger since that time.
We remember the heavy jugs of water that we were carrying to our flats, we spent long time standing in the queues, waiting to get the water for the home. We needed to use the water wisely, because waiting in queue was really dangerous and even when the alarms send a message about danger, people didn’t go home, they stayed there because they had been waiting for too long to go back, and without the water they couldn’t return to their homes. And then the situation became a little bit easier, because we didn’t really need to think about water that we had to spent on a shower or other resourcing things, and we were just waiting in queues to get drinking water. Since then and until right now we still go to get the water to the nearest points around our homes. It is something that makes us even stronger, shows to the rest of the world that no matter what, we are going to be strong. It helps people to become close to each other. It was a quite tough time, but we went through it.
Conclusion
Working on this project we have made a long journey down deep into the history of the city and we found a strong connection to the people who were in need of water and were trying to do everything as possible to provide citizens with that. Just like people in Mykolayiv right now.
Список використаної літератури
- Гостева, Д. В., Трохименко, Г.Г. (2023). Аналіз проблеми забезпечення питною водою населення міста Миколаїв, що виникла внаслідок негативного впливу військових дій на систему водопостачання. Проблеми екології та енергозбереження. Матеріали ХV міжнародної науково-технічної конференції. – Миколаїв: НУК 2023. С. 24-25.
- Трохименко. Г.Г., Гостева, Д.В. (2023). Свердловини як альтернативні джерела водопостачання у місті Миколаїв. Водопостачання і водовідведення: проектування, будівництко, експлуатація, моніторинг: V міжнародна науково-технічна конференція, 2023. Львів: Збірник матеріалів, С. 39.
- Водонапірна башта за проектом B.Шyxoва. Wikimapia/https.wikimapia.org
- М’ясищев, О. Битва за воду. Миколаїв врятувала солона вода, – https://biz.liga.net