Another case reported by citizens to the Public Consultation Centre is located in Akshukur, a town of about 7.000 people, 20 km north from Aktau. A man reported that days between the town and seacoast there is some strange dredging of the soil going on for several days. Lorry comes several times a day and transports the soil away. This activity was very probably illegal.
At the same time, the man reported that he has moved to the village recently and he is shocked by the living conditions. No drinking water network is provided, water is brought in tanks from Aktau and citizens can access the municipal tanks located in the center of the village in certain hours only. Otherwise the tanks are fenced and locked and only the local akim possesses the key. No official waste management exists, so the common practice is that people either burn their waste at home, take their waste to Aktau and pay the municipal landfill for its disposal, or dump it illegally. The last-named option is the most commonly used. There is a huge illegal landfill of a size comparable to the whole town area, beginning just behind the fence of local cemetery. Municipal and construction waste but also hazardous waste was observed in the area (fluorescent tubes, electric devices, unlabeled containers, carcasses (especially dogs), packaging with unused chemicals, car wrecks, etc.). We met a shepherd with his herds in the middle of the landfill, complaining on bad smell and ongoing expansion of the landfill.
