Aidu defence park must protect groundwater and restored ecosystems

Developers of a planned defence industry park and explosives factory at the former Aidu oil shale quarry must ensure that the project does not damage groundwater or hinder nature’s recovery, ERR reported.

The Defence Ministry plans to establish two defence industry parks in Ida-Viru County. The first is planned for Põhja-Kiviõli, where a national special plan has already been approved and a suitable company selected. The second is planned for Aidu, where mining ended nearly 15 years ago.

The Defence Ministry considered the former industrial area highly suitable for a defence industry park, and its commissioned strategic environmental impact assessment found that major environmental problems were not expected.

At the same time, a study of the water bodies in the Aidu quarry found that a viable ecosystem had developed there over the past 15 years. The quarry’s water bodies have even become home to võldas, a protected fish species, indicating that the water is very clean.

The Climate Ministry wants the Defence Ministry to take the new study into account and ensure that an explosives factory does not worsen the current condition of Aidu’s water bodies.

“Our studies show that all the life in Aidu quarry’s water bodies is recovering. Now, if an explosives production plant comes, for example, we do not want these substances to reach the quarry’s water bodies and reverse the situation again,” Siret Valge, project manager at the Climate Ministry’s water department, said.

“There is also an unprotected groundwater layer in Aidu quarry. Pollution can spread into the groundwater very easily, and it is very difficult to remove from there,” Valge added.

The Purtse River is another concern. Considerable effort and resources have been spent over the years cleaning up pollution left by the oil shale industry.

“The water discharged from the explosives factory should meet quality requirements so that it does not damage the Purtse River basin,” Valge said.

The Defence Ministry acknowledged that the study of Aidu quarry’s water bodies was new information for it, but said it would consider the Climate Ministry’s comments and proposals.

“In the coming weeks, our experts will examine the Climate Ministry’s positions and the study they cited in greater detail. We will adjust our strategic environmental impact assessment materials accordingly. The principle is that the activities of our industrial park must not damage either surface water or groundwater in any way. We must and will follow that principle,” said Indrek Sirp, the Defence Ministry’s special adviser for defence industry development.

Both ministries said that although the developers must take more extensive environmental conditions into account than previously expected, the new information about the condition of Aidu quarry’s water bodies should not change the timetable for building the explosives factory.

A public discussion of the strategic environmental impact assessment report is still to come. The plan is scheduled to be approved in autumn.