“Smell of evaporation from Bulak was so unbearable that residents of nearby streets could not open windows”. Page from history opened by Tatarstan archivists

The state of the Kaban Lake and Bulak canal at the end of the XIX century, draining the sewage, and low culture of the townspeople. All these problems are reflected in the documents presented at the exhibition devoted to the Year of Ecology. It was organized by specialists of the State Committee of the Republic of Tatarstan on archival matters in conjunction with the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of the Republic. On Novo-Pesochnaya str. 44 in Kazan, you can immerse yourself in history and find out how the environment was treated before. According to the documents that have been preserved in the archive, one can see that in the pre-revolutionary period the sanitary condition of the city of Kazan was poor. An important waterway of the city, its main factor was Bulak. By the end of the 19th century, on the streets of the Right and Left Naberezhnye Bulak streets various public, iconic buildings, houses, including the Kazan Real School, Kazan Second Gymnasium, the state wine storehouse, the Kudryavtsev laundry facility, the public baths of Gutman, Merkulov, Bryzgalov, and Shcherbakov were located. In the late XIX - early XX centuries large boats went on Bulak. On the canal embankments the annual fairs rustled and folk festivals were held. As a result of the active life of the citizens, Bulak gradually began to turn into a gutter.
For sewage drainage plank troughs were arranged on the sides of the Bulak. The sanitary culture of the citizens was very low. And after the rains, when the lateral troughs were filled with water flowing into Bulak, the townspeople discharged manure and impurities into it.

The intensive commercial and industrial life also had an unfavorable effect on the state of the canal: the wastewaters from the nearby baths, the factory and the wine warehouse were drained into it. Bulak had a sludge bottom and ammonia and hydrogen sulfide smell was constantly felt around it. The smell of evaporation from Bulak was so unbearable that the residents of the nearby streets could not open the windows.

The city authorities, realizing the seriousness of the situation, repeatedly considered the issues of Bulak recovery. But all proposals were just projects. For several decades, there have been mere theoretical arguments about the feasibility and profitability of a particular project. Not everything that was offered by scientists and was considered at the Duma sessions, for certain reasons, was realized. Thus, at a meeting of the Kazan City Duma on April 30, 1902, unrealized projects of Bulak recovery were announced: in 1890 the government came up with a proposal to build a wooden bottom on the bottom of Bulak, asking for 1,000 rubles, buy the petition was postponed due to insufficient funds. Projects were also proposed for installing a sewer pipe for Bulak, washing Bulak with artesian wells, filling Bulak with sand. In 1853 the bottom of Bulak was paved with cobblestones. But the raised level of the Bulak contributed to the slowing of the water flow, which eventually led to the silting of the bottom of the canal.
The problem of Bulak was very closely connected with the problem of improving Lake Kaban and the Kazanka river. So, for example, at a meeting of the Kazan City Council on March 3, 1878, questions were considered about taking measures to eliminate the clogging of the Kaban Lake. The rules that were mandatory for Kazan residents were adopted, which consisted in the following: “the moving of carts along Lake Kaban is not permitted; it is forbidden to dump manure and other unclean things or substances that can clog the lake both on the shores of Lake Kaban, and into the lake”.
It should be noted that the hot debates at the Duma meetings on how to clean up Bulak and Lake Kaban did not lead to anything.
As you know, Kazan was a major commercial and industrial center. Issues of the maintenance of factories and plants were also in the field of view of city self-government bodies.
  In the contracts concluded between the industrial enterprises of Kazan and the Kazan city government for the laying of certain objects (oil pipelines, drainpipes, etc.), mandatory clauses were included on the observance of sanitary conditions during their operation.



Press Service of MENR of RT