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Nizhny Novgorod residents aren’t happy with plans to raise water level in Cheboksary dam lake

The higher water level in the Cheboksary dam lake is supposed to result in bigger electric power generation and a solution of the shipping problem

NIZHNY NOVGOROD, June 17 (Itar-Tass) —— The public hearing of the increased level of the Cheboksary dam lake to 68 meters revealed the negative attitude of local residents to the project, but the designers said the documents would be submitted to the government before August 1 and a final decision will be made.

“The materials will be studied throughly and undergo an environmental evaluation. In such cases environmental evaluations last for up to six months,” Federal Natural Resources and Ecology Supervisory Service Vladimir Kirillov said on Friday.

The higher water level in the Cheboksary dam lake is supposed to result in bigger electric power generation and a solution of the shipping problem. Nizhny Novgorod authorities and residents say the program is too expensive and propose the construction of a small dam in the Balakhninsky district and a nuclear power plant in the Navashinsky district instead.

The Volga engineering center said that the increased water level would flood 400 square kilometers of land, eight residential areas with 2,000 homes, bridges and power lines. Besides, the spring freshet zone will broaden into the premises of large plants, including the Nizhny Novgorod machine building plant, the Sokol aircraft plant and the Krasnoye Sormovo shipyard. The flood may halt production. The spring freshet may also flood storages of poisonous chemical west in Dzerzhinsk and historical and cultural monuments of the world significance.

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