Page "Geography of Estonia" Paragraph 12

One of the most burdensome legacies of the Soviet era is widespread environmental pollution.

The worst offender in this regard was the Soviet army.

Across military installations covering more than 800 km² of Estonian territory, the army dumped hundreds of thousands of tons of jet fuel into the ground, improperly disposed of toxic chemicals, and discarded outdated explosives and weapons in coastal and inland waters.

In the 1990s, during the army's withdrawal from Estonia, extensive damage was done to discarded buildings and equipment.

In October 1993, the Estonian Ministry of Environment issued a preliminary report summing up part of the degradation it had surveyed thus far.

The report described the worst damage as having been done to Estonia's topsoil and underground water supply by the systematic dumping of jet fuel at six Soviet army air bases.

At the air base near Tapa, site of the worst damage, officials estimated that six square kilometers of land were covered by a layer of fuel ; 11 square kilometers of underground water were said to be contaminated.

The water in the surrounding area was undrinkable.

With Danish help, Estonian crews began cleaning up the site, although they estimated the likely cost to be as much as 4 million EEK.

The Ministry of Environment assigned a monetary cost of more than 10 billion EEK to the damage to the country's topsoil and water supply.

However, the ministry was able to allocate only 5 million EEK in 1993 for cleanup operations.