Near the village of Nikolici of the Zarubinsky settlement, the Peschera lake disappeared. Local residents are afraid that another lake will leave after him, from which they take drinking water.
Together with Olga Kolyvanova, a specialist from the Ostashat House of Culture, who turned to the Iskra editorial office, we are driving along a forest road to the disappeared lake. It is a kilometer from Nikolic.
-The fact that the lake was gone, I was told by a neighbor. He says it was still at the end of April. I went into the forest on May 9, and in its place there was a puddle and a small hole, - says Olga Stanislavovna. - Creepy. They have been fishing in it all their lives. And the bait and nets. And then suddenly it took and disappeared. Why would it suddenly?
Where has the Cave gone?
We go down to the lowland and follow along a small log. Melt water rushes along it in the spring and fills a hollow, shaped like an elongated comma. Now on the site of Lake Cave there is a large bright spot, the "bottom" cracked in the sun. Judging by the outlines, the length of the reservoir reached 80 meters. Near the coast from the side of the forest, a small hole is visible and a narrow hole one and a half meters from the surface, through which, apparently, the lake went, dragging away the entire aquatic fauna.
About ten kilometers from the disappeared lake is the entrance to the Zuyat cave, which is considered one of the largest in the Perm region. Its length is 1410 meters. It is notable for an underground lake at the entrance and a stream. Some of the passages are completely flooded. The water level is subject to significant seasonal fluctuations.
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Maybe the formed ponor (the place through which the water left) is the entrance to another cave?
Why did the bottom "crack"?
Locals are guessing. One of the versions is that an earthquake in the Sverdlovsk region with a power of 4.1 points at the epicenter, which happened last fall on the night of October 19, affected. Iskra talked about this on October 20 in the article "Tremors of the Earth". Judging by the statements in social networks, the vibration was felt not only by residents of the Sverdlovsk region, but also by the Perm region. It shook in Nikolici too. Maybe this soil vibration led to the formation of a crack at the bottom of the reservoir? Another version is the activity of oil workers. In the neighboring Berezovsky district, oil is being extracted from the ground. Voids are formed.
All around failures
The excitement of residents about the disappeared lake is understandable: the villages are on a karst. Failures, as the locals call small sinkholes, is a common phenomenon here. But the disappearance of the whole lake is a reason to be wary.
The only source of water supply for the villages is Lake Lyubimovo. True, it is located on the opposite side of the collapsed lake - three kilometers from Ostashat. About half a kilometer away from it, about ten years ago, Lake Chervyaki went underground. Then the hole was covered with stones and clay. And in the spring, the cavity was filled with water again.
Residents, of course, are worried whether such cases of the disappearance of miraculous reservoirs will not become a pattern.
In Ostashaty and Nikolici, from the blessings of civilization - electricity and a water supply system served by the local collective farm. A lopsided 30-meter pipe stuck into the ground is a water tower. The pump drives liquid from Lake Lyubimovo into it, then it enters the houses through the water supply network. In the village of Nikolici, which stands on a hill, water flows poorly since the beginning of the garden season: there is not enough pressure. In the village itself, there are several long-standing karst gaps, filled with rainfall in the spring. The lakes are protected. Periodically cleaned of mud. They keep cattle out and do not rinse linen. The water in them, relatively speaking, is for drinking. There are no other sources of drinking water.
Need a plumbing
The head of the administration of the Zarubinsky settlement Viktor Maltsev said that the issue of water supply to the villages of Ostashata and Nikolici is being resolved. Survey work carried out. At 3.5 kilometers from the village of Ostashata, water corresponding to the standard was found, but the flow rate of the well (the volume of water steadily coming from a natural source) is very small. There was an attempt to provide the villages with drinking water by reopening the artesian wells from which the oilmen took water for drilling rigs. But this attempt did not give positive results. There is a way out - to make an insert into the water supply network "Dubrava - Serga". It is 10 kilometers from the village. But it takes 18 million to lay the pipes. At the same time, the entire budget of the settlement for this year is just over 11 million rubles.
One consolation: measures for the construction of a water pipeline from the village of Zareka to the village of Ostashata are included in the plan for the socio-economic development of the Kungursky district for 2018.
But nature's plans may be completely different.
So far, residents live in hope that at least their Lyubimovskoye Lake will not disappear overnight. They drink water with a greenish tint and are glad that just recently it began to brighten.
A COMMENT
Natalya Lavrova, Researcher of the Stationary Laboratory of the Mining Institute, Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences:
- Now it is difficult to draw any conclusions. The opening of a crack or a hole through which the water left could have occurred both as a result of man-made impacts and for natural reasons. I do not exclude that there may be a cave under the lake. We have not yet visited the site. Over time, the ponor should be tightened with clay, earth. After a while, the lake may return.
REFERENCE
In the Kungur region at the end of April 2012, in the center of the village of Mokhovoe, a lake of karst origin went underground.
In Kungur there is a lake Povarennoe, which periodically appears and disappears. The last time it disappeared was in 1997. Now filled with water again.
Yuri Kupreev. author's photo