Drowning in Pig Filth: The Residents of Gorodnya Village Have Become Hostages of a Catastrophe

A Russian village that should have been a place of peaceful life, order, and clean air has turned into a real nightmare. Big business is shamelessly “making money,” flooding everything around with filth, and nobody listens to the people: neither the commercial gentleman nor the officials. Everyone just pretends nothing is happening! And when there is at least some reaction, it is purely demonstrative, without real changes.

Meanwhile, children cannot go outside or even get to school without getting covered in filth. Sorry for the word! But what else can you call it?

Local authorities should be ashamed that they are unable to restore order. As for the businessman, it’s clear — he only cares about money, but the officials live there themselves and see this blatant horror every day.

So, Allies! Another cry for help from the Tver region — I have received several letters from the residents of Gorodnya village, Kalininsky Municipal District. They are experiencing a real ecological nightmare! After every rainfall, pig-farm waste from the fields of JSC “Zavolzhsky Meat Processing Plant” rushes through a pipe directly into the settlement, forming streams of foul sewage right on the streets. Roads turn into dirty torrents, houses are surrounded by wastewater, and the stench hangs constantly in the air. Residents complain that children cannot play outside, and it's impossible to open the windows.

The situation is made worse by the reaction of the plant’s management. When residents asked them to solve the problem, they replied: “We don’t care, and we won’t do anything, it’s not our problem” (as reported by Tver24). The fields where the enterprise dumps its waste belong to the meat plant itself, yet its management shows complete indifference to the fact that the runoff floods the nearby village. According to the residents, supervisory bodies are also inactive — the environmental prosecutor’s office and local administration officials do not respond to the numerous complaints.

The blow falls not only on local residents but also on the region’s ecology — the pollution poses a colossal threat to groundwater and soil. Imagine how many antibiotics and various substances are used on a pig farm! All of this soaks into the soil and ends up in the water that local people then drink.

Unfortunately, people have been left alone with an environmental disaster, and no one is helping them. It is complete indifference from all sides! The videos they send are terrifying to watch — everything around is literally covered in filth. You can’t even go to the store or get to school. It’s simply awful.

My team and I have carefully studied the entire chronology, since the problem has now worsened.

Back in 2012, the Tver Environmental Prosecutor’s Office found that JSC “Zavolzhskoye Breeding Farm” had been discharging wastewater into the Mezhurka stream without permission and with concentrations exceeding legal standards. The prosecutor achieved a court ruling to eliminate the violations. As a result, the enterprise was forced to build new treatment facilities, which were commissioned in 2017 and modernized by 2019. Moreover, since August 2019, the plant stopped discharging wastewater into water bodies and switched to filtration fields and storage reservoirs.

Despite the modernization of the treatment facilities, residents of nearby villages continued to suffer from the enterprise’s waste. In 2019, for example, residents of the village of Dmitrovo-Cherkassy complained about a similar situation — liquid pig manure being dumped onto the fields. The persistent stench made normal life impossible, and the problem began to gain public attention.

In the height of summer 2020, the situation worsened in the villages of Gorodnya and Shiryakovo of the Zavolzhskoye Rural Settlement. The nights were filled with suffocating odors — according to residents, ammonia levels from pig waste were “off the charts,” and some people woke up gasping for air. It turned out that liquid waste from the treatment facilities of “Zavolzhskoye” was being discharged onto fields near these villages through a pipe. The stench sometimes reached the outskirts of Tver. Residents prepared a collective appeal to the Tver Interdistrict Environmental Prosecutor’s Office, directly calling what was happening an “environmental catastrophe.”

That same year, 2020, the issue gained wide resonance. The local outlet “Kray Spravedlivosti” published an exposé titled “What the ‘Zavolzhsky Pig-Dealers’ Are Silent About,” after which the administration of JSC “Zavolzhskoye Breeding Farm” issued an official response. In its statement, the enterprise claimed that it produced around 118,000 pigs and had modern treatment facilities (commissioned in 2017 and upgraded in 2019). The plant insisted that it separated wastewater into fractions, purified it to regulatory levels, and used the waste as organic fertilizer on the fields according to sanitary rules. In June–July 2020, inspections by the environmental prosecutor’s office, Rospotrebnadzor, Rosprirodnadzor, and the Ministry of Ecology of the Tver Region reportedly found no serious violations. The management claimed it acted within the law and even emphasized its “social role” (accepting wastewater from the nearby settlement, helping the local budget). Nevertheless, the foul smell and complaints continued.

Two years later, the problem resurfaced again. In May 2022, eyewitnesses published photos from the surroundings of the complex: huge fields soaked with liquid manure, foul-smelling ditches, and ponds of waste. The terrible smell again poisoned life for the residents of Tver and the Kalininsky District. Previous inspections by the prosecutor’s office and Rosprirodnadzor had already established that organic waste from the facility’s sedimentation tanks was indeed being discharged onto the land through a main hose; soil samples were taken. In 2022, the situation essentially repeated itself.

In the summer of 2025, a new wave of crisis occurred. After heavy rains, the village of Gorodnya was literally flooded with pig waste — streams of liquid runoff from the fields poured through a pipe directly onto the streets. One local resident recorded the scale of the disaster on video: a reeking river flowed near residential houses. After numerous complaints, the Tver Interdistrict Environmental Prosecutor’s Office announced the start of an investigation. The supervisory agency promised to take prosecutorial action; the enterprise could face suspension of operations or a lawsuit for environmental damage. Particular attention was paid to compliance with sanitary norms near the residential area. It seemed that real intervention from the authorities was finally coming.

Despite the launched inspection, by autumn 2025 no real changes had occurred. The problem is systematic — “after every rainfall,” the filth again flows into the village. Residents of Gorodnya feel abandoned: according to them, neither local officials nor the environmental prosecutor’s office have ever responded properly to their situation. The stench still hangs over the village, and yards and roads remain covered in dirty runoff.

And now tell me, Allies — what on earth is happening?! Our fellow citizens, residents of the Tver region, are drowning in the waste of an arrogant commercial enterprise, and no one can solve this problem? All that local officials seem capable of is pretending to be “actively working”?

All the appeals from the residents have been received and studied! As part of our work, we are preparing a Public Initiative that will become a coordination center for this problem. We will carefully study all details and prepare requests and statements to government authorities! The statements will be collective, signed by a large number of people.

Real change is possible now only if there is public resonance. Therefore, I urge all Allies to stand up for our nature and our people — let’s help. If tomorrow the same problem appears under your windows, near your homes, people from all over the country must come together and help!

Spread this material as widely as possible right now. Residents of the region are asked to send appeals through the reception form on the website — we will review them.

The launch of the Public Initiative will be announced on social media. We are already preparing it!

DO NOT LEAVE PEOPLE ALONE WITH THEIR TROUBLE!

© Pavel Pashkov