In the fall of 2019, an illogical and ridiculous project started in Cheremkhovo. The local government decided to reinforce the bank of the small and swampy Cheremshanka river.
The citizens watched the ongoing bank protection work with confusion. Cheremshanka had never posed a threat during snow melting or heavy rains.
But the mayor Vadim Semenov was determined to protect the city from imaginary floods and claimed that the reinforcement would make the riverbed stable, prevent emergencies, and improve the appearance of the river. Officials also promised to establish a watercourse and remove the waterlogging.
And the outcome? It turned out exactly the opposite.
The work took nearly two years and involved removing tons of soil, costing over 400 million rubles. However, the bank protection did not make sense to the locals, and it became clear that the municipal authorities were acting recklessly. The promised cleanup did not happen.
Firstly. The river remained covered in dense swamp mud. Instead of becoming more full-flowing, the river disappeared.
Secondly. The stone embankment and wire mesh structure replaced the water. Local residents pointed out that in the area of the bank protection, there is no water in the channel at all. In the warm season, it looks like an empty stone trough, which is not the aesthetic view that was promised.
To make matters worse, residents living nearby complained that their cellars and vegetable gardens were flooded after the bank protection works. One resident stated that his basement was flooded by 1.5 meters after the bank protection works. The Housing Construction Supervision Service received a comment and suggested reaching out to them about it. It's not known how many drowned victims there are in total. Here is another comment from a local resident who is upset about flooded vegetable gardens and a completely empty “stone trough” instead of a river along Udarnik Street:
Overall, a complete failure in every aspect.
The Cheremkhovo administration realized they needed to address the public negativity and explain to the population why the river is missing and where the money went. In October 2022, the Cheremkhovo City Hall's press service tried to provide an explanation to the townspeople.
The director of the Federal State Budgetary Institution “Irkutsk Department for Hydrometeorology and Environmental Monitoring” was supposed to calm public opinion as an invited expert.
Igor Vereshchagin
. In a prepared production for the camera, Vereshchagin reported that the parameters of Cheremshanka had not changed since 2006, the water flow remained the same. That is water, no more, no less. “If we take 2006, 2012, 2019 and 2022, then the Cheremshanka parameters have not changed. The flow of the river has not changed. This is the number of units of water mass that passes in a certain unit of time. 39 liters per second is the average consumption of Cheremshanka. Based on the observational data for the indicated years, we conclude that Cheremshanka is in its hydrometric norm”, – says Igor Vereshchagin.
“Part of the runoff passed into the thickness of the stone mats, and therefore not all areas on the surface of the stone have a river. All bank protection works aimed at preventing an emergency situation related to floods have been completed,”
The video, published on the social networks of the head of Cheremkhovo at the end of October, ends with remarks by Vereshchagin and Semenov. “To secure the population during the passage of melt water – everything, it is done”,
– the director of the hydrometeorological observatory says what he was required to say.
The goal has actually been achieved. But, apparently, not the one pointed out by the mayor. The residents of Cheremkhovo themselves in social networks directly say: the only purpose of the work that has been carried out in the city for two years was a banal cut. The amount by the standards of a small town, with a population of about 50 thousand, is huge. More than 400 million rubles. This is about a fifth of Cheremkhovo’s annual budget.
The story is amazing at its core. 400 million rubles went in a dubious direction. Cheremshanka is extremely shallow and objectively does not need to strengthen the channel. There is no threat of emergencies in case of floods and never was. Judging by the complaints about flooded private households, the work was carried out in violation of the natural riverbed.
But now the residents of Cheremkhovo can sleep peacefully: they will definitely not be flooded by a swampy stream. Well, except for those whose gardens and cellars have already been flooded, but not through the fault of the floods.
Good intentions, as they say.
