Beautiful river with an unpleasant surprise...

This nice place is located not far from my house, 20 minute walk.

Surprisingly beautiful scenery, isn’t it? This is the Stugna river, it is in the Kiev region. Once upon a time, in the time of Kievan Rus it was large and navigable, but now it is quite small.

It seems to be an excellent place for rest and swimming. But we never swim in this water. Why?
Look at the other side of the river.

There are the ruins of an industrial factory built during the Soviet era, right on the river bank. The factory was toxic, it was engaged in processing of a skin, and all drains were dumped directly in small river for decades! During the Soviet era, the leaders did not think about ecology, but only about economic expediency! And as a result, a wonderful recreational zone is disfigured by industrial buildings, and the river's water is toxic! And unfortunately there are a lot of such places in Ukraine.

Let's hope that someday the situation will change for the better!