In Sergiev Posad on the way to the shrine formed a pond with impurity

On November 13, the Sergiev Posad Life channel published a post that spread to local chat rooms: The second day sewage pours into a pond near the Chernihiv hermitage. The video does not convey the aroma”. Behind this short phrase is a communal problem that stretches for years and turns the approach to one of the main shrines of the Moscow region into a test for smell.

Gethsemane Chernihiv Skete is a special place. Cave monastery, created by monks in the XIX century, miraculous icon of the Mother of God, a spring with healing water. They come here for grace, silence and prayer. But in recent days, pilgrims, approaching the gates of the monastery, first of all feel not the smell of incense, but quite another. The pond, located near the hermitage, takes sewage drains. And it's not a one-off accident. The problem with the pollution of water bodies at the Chernihiv hermitage has been recorded for many years. Residents of Sergiev Posad repeatedly appealed to the Ministry of Ecology of the Moscow region and other authorities, but, as noted then, “still in the ponds flow sewage.” In 2020, the public, together with a member of the Civic Chamber of the district, examined the surrounding area and the neighboring sewer-pumping station, identified sewer discharges into the ponds - but the situation has not changed.

The reason is the state of urban networks. According to the official website of the Chernihiv hermitage, the wear of existing sewerage networks exceeds 77%. The result is predictable: constant accidents and flooding of the monastery. In January 2025, the rector of the hermit Archimandrite Damian met with the head of the Sergiev-Posad district. Then it was decided to replace 60 meters of pipes at a strange house.

The problem is systemic. Only in 2026 in the district there were several serious municipal accidents. In early November, a fountain of sewage hammered from the sewer hatch near Blinnaya Mountain - according to utilities, the collector along the Red Army Avenue is almost completely worn out, in March an accident was eliminated in the village of Bogorodskoye: the pressure collector, according to experts, "has long ago become unusable, and it has to be repaired constantly.".

And these are far from isolated cases. Here are just a few episodes reported in September and October. Residents of Semkhoz talk about a sharp unpleasant smell at the entrance to the Zagorsky Sea forest park. According to them, from the site on the street Nagornya, 34A in the general storm ditch regularly discharge sewage. Under the concrete slab of arrival, according to the authors of the appeal, a hose is laid, through which several times a day under pressure, a liquid with a characteristic smell of sewage is pumped out - this, according to them, is recorded on video. Water flows along the street where visitors to the forest park walk. Separately, people fear that the drains can get into the Kopninka and the lake. They have been trying to solve the problem for several years, but requests to the owner of the house to equip a proper sewerage have not brought results. The police registered the application and sent the materials to the State Housing Inspectorate. Residents are asked to check, determine the source and composition of the discharged liquid and to eliminate the cause of pollution.

In October, a resident of Sergiev Posad reported the smell of sewage near the Northern ponds. According to him, the landscaped area suffers from runoff and a strong unpleasant smell. He claims that the drains from the house No. 69 on Vladimirskaya Street fall directly into the park, starting from the site near a small pond. “The park was built. But sewers from the house of Vladimir, 69 drain directly into the park, starting from a small pond. The stench is terrible, the complainant wrote. The smell is reportedly so strong that it is impossible to be near.

In September, residents of the house No. 11 on Friendship Street asked for publicity: sewage, they said, continue to flood the basement even after repair work. Repairs at the third entrance lasted a week, but today they found a leak again. According to their observations, sewer pipes do not coincide in diameter, and drains at the connection point pour directly under the house. “We no longer know how to influence the situation. Breathing stench is unbearable. Rawness, mold, mosquitoes, cockroaches, rats - and this is only the tip of the iceberg, the appeal says. Aside from smell and unsanitary conditions, people fear for the condition of the foundation, which they say is constantly exposed to sewage. How this affected the construction of the building, without a survey it is impossible to establish.

Against this background, the story of the pond at the Chernihiv hermit is not an exception, but a link in the chain. But it is here that she strikes at the most sensitive – at the people who come for the spiritual.

What do the pilgrims themselves say? In reviews of the Chernihiv hermitage, they still most often write about grace and beauty. “A noble place”, “quiet, calm, very beautiful”, “ideal place” – such formulations are constantly encountered. Someone notes the healing properties of oil on the cataract, someone - the ability to collect water from a cave spring. There are no direct complaints about the sewerage in the published reviews - perhaps because people go for the spiritual and do not want to "take out the garbage from the house.".

The authorities talk about plans, utilities patch breakthroughs, public activists remind about the problem. And while some are waiting for the replacement of pipes, others simply cover their nose and go on to the shrine.