SANITATION IN MUKACHEVO

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP82-00046R000300130017-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: December 27, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 6, 2013
• Sequence Number: 17
• Publication Date: December 22, 1953
• Content Type: REPORT

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved
for Release @ 50-Yr
CONFIDENTIAL
2013/06/06:
CIA-RDP82-00046R000300130017-6
REPORT NO.
DATE DISTR.
NO. OF PAGES
REFERENCES:
COUNTRY USSR (zaiwpatskaya
SUBJECT Sanitation
DATE OF INFORMATION
PLACE ACQUIRED
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22 Dec. 1953
4
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Oblast) '
in Mukachevo
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THIS IS UNEVALUATED INFORMATION
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General
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1. Mukachevo 4 48-26, E 22-4g7 was seat of the Mukachevo Qkrug Adminis-
tration. Until the middle of 1952 the organization
of territorial administration of the Carpathian Oblast had remained
as it was during Czeohoslovak rule. The oblast, as before, was divided
into approximately 10 okrugs, and there was no division of rayons. The
okrugs of the Carpathian Oblast were administratively considered rayons,
although normally their territory was much larger than the usual
territory of a rayon in the USSR. The population of the town of
Mukachevo was about 70,000 people. The last census in the Carpathian
Oblast was taken in 1938 when the Mukachevo population was approxi-
mately 58,000. Mukachevo was the second largest town in the Carpathian
Oblast, the largest being Uzhgorodflf 48-38, E.22-1g. The town
occupied an area of approximately n ne square kilometers. The town area
was considerably expanded in 1949 when four vallages located on the
town's outskirts (Palanok, Podhorod, Rosvegovo, and Podhorany) 2:gee
AMS-2Map, sheet W-17, Scale 1:100,000, Mukachevp7 were incorporated
into the town. The town of Mukachevo had spread so much that it had
practically absorbed these villages. Mukachevo was a large production
and commercial center for many farm products as well as a large trans-
loading and lumber processing center for the Carpathian Oblast.
2. Mukachevo was the largest communications center of the Carpathian Oblast.
The main railroad line, Vienna-Budapest.-Wvov-Kiev-Moscow, and several
highways connected Mukachevo with the USSR, Czechoslovakia, Hungary,
and Rumania.
Health Statistics
3.
50:00
According
to soviet meaioal publications in tne perioa statistics
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showed an Increase of the annual birth rate and a considerable decrease
in the death rate (especially the infant mortality rate).
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4. There were not too many epidemic diseases in Mukachevo. They included
tuberculosis and dysentry among adults and smallpox, mumps, and worms
among children.
Water
5. Mukachevo had a public water system which derived water from several
underground streams coming from the Carpathian Mountains. One group
of city water reservoirs was located on the northern bank of the
Latorica River in the area of the village of Podmonastyr', and the
other was south of the village of Palanok. Water was pumped from the
streams, filtered, and repumped to water towers with which both groups
of city reservoirs were provided. bhere was no need
for chlorination of city water. Water flowed through the city pipes
by the force of gravity. 50X1
6. The Mukachevo public water system was probably constructed in about ?
1900 to supply only the central part of the town, or about 50% of the
population. The outskirts procured their water supply from wells.
Sixty percent of all wells in Mukachevo were artesian' wells; the others
were either of the so-called "stork" (zhuravl) type or were operated
by means of a windlass, cases of disease caused
by drinking well water; on thP contrary, it was quite potable and had
an excellent taste. 50X1
8,
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Several large factories in Mukachevo, such as the Mukachevo Brewery,
the Mukachevo Distillery (spirtzavod) and the Mukachevo Bakery
(khlebzwrod) which was constructed in mid-1951 and supplied bread to
practically the entire Mukachevo oktug, had their own water supply
system and water towers.
; ere was some ni o
uommuniu bervices Administration (Gorodskoye blagoustroystvo) where
the water was analyzed and tested, the name or loca-
tion of this laboratory nor the process or testing wnich was used 50X1
there. Presumably the water in Mukachevo contained a sufficient per-
50X1 centage of iodine because, pthere was never a single
case of goiter in Mukachevo. uoiter was rather widespread, however,
in the village of Suskovo, 15 km. northeast of Mukachevo.
9. Bottled mineral water (Narzan from the Caucasus, Svalyavka from Svalava
20 km, northeast of Mukachevo, Kalina from someplace in the western
Ukraine, and many other types) was on sale at kiosks and stores in town.
Svalyavka was the preferred type of mineral water, and it was in high
demand not only throughout the Carpathian Oblast but also in other
Ukrainian cities such as Livov, Kiev and Odessa. Carbonated water and
several types of soft beverages (lemonade and orangeade) were also sold
in kiosks. Consumption of mineral water and other soft beverages was
rather high in the summertime, but this had nothing to do with attempts
to avoid drinking the city's water.
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10.
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]ach village and almost every large housenoia in tne
Mukachevo region had its own well, and there certainly was no need to
use water from the Latorica River or any other surface stream. 50:00
Food
11. Sanitary control of food sold to people in stores and on the market
was exercised by the Sanitary Control Section (Sanitarnyy kontrol')
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of the City Health Office (GosZdravOtdel). This control was exercised
strictly in the following manner:
a. Meat: according to regulations, the slaughter of horned cattle
for human consumption was limited only to animals which were old
or had certain defects. The owners had to receive authorization
for disposal of such cattle from the proper veterinary authority
(either regional or kolkhozny,#, but even then the owner was not
allowed in any case to slaughter the animal himself; he had to
sell it to the slaughterhouse, presenting the veterinarian's
authorization for sale. The animal was then slaughtered, the meat
inspected by the slaughterhouse veterinarian who put his stamp on
every piece of meat, and the meat sold in town butcher shops. In
case the owner preferred to sell the meat himself, he did not sell
the animal to the slaughterhouse; instead he paid the fee for
slaughtering and attended the sale of the meat at a special butcher
shop in the market, collecting money himself from the purchasers
and paying another fee to the butcher who would cut the meat.
There were several of this trae of butcher kiosk in Mukachevo
markets especially for the kolkhozniki. It was very important
that every piece of meat leaving the slaughterhouse have a veterinary
stamp on it. Pig owners could slaughter pigs without any veterinary
authorization, i.e., the slaughter of pigs was not limited to old
or defective animals. However, every pig earmarked for slaughter
and sale had to be passed by a veterinarian as healthy, unless
the meat was to be used for one's own household consumption; then
the meat did not have to be inspected or stamped. When a piece
of meat was found on the market by sanitary control authorities
without the proper stamp, the owner was heavily fined and an inves-
tigation was made. Normally such violations were termed "specula-
tion" and drew punishments up to five or seven years in the correc-
tive labor camps. Poor sanitary and hygienic conditions of meat
on open counters in the market drew a 50-500 rubles fine. Boiled,
fried, or corned meat could be sold by the owner on the market
without any stamp.
b. Dairy Products: milk, butter, and cheese, before put on the market,
had to be brought to the city sanitary control office where they
were tested for satisfactory fat Content and the owner provided with
authorization to take them to sell at the market.
0. Fowl .and eggs: providing there was no fowl epidemic in the area,
no restriction on the free sale of fowl and eggs was applied.
Villagers could bring fowl and eggs to the market and sell them at
competitive prices.
Disposal System
12. Mukachevo had an operating sanitary sewerage system which serviced
the entire city. Approximately 80% of the houses in the city were
serviced by the system. On the edge of the city many new houses had
been built and were equipped with sewerage facilities which were to be
put in use as soon as the sewer system was attached to the city's
system. Those houses which did not have connections to the sewerage
system used outdoor latrines. These latrines were cared for by the
residents or emptied by a special city service which removed the waste
in a truck or horse-drawn wagon. This waste was transported in a tank
on the wagons to fields outside the city where it was used to ferti-
lize the land on which vegetables for human consumption were grown.
The sewerage system of the city led to a disposal plant located on the
Latorica River. (This river flows through part of the city of 50:00
Mukachevo.) ' what
treatment was given iGcs "une sewage perore it emptied into the Latorica
River which flowed into the Danube. The city streets had a drainage
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system to carry away surface runoff during rains. This system consisted
of storm sewers; open ditches were not employed. No surface water
collected in ponds around the city. However, above the city there
was an overflow of the banks of the Latorica River during floods (which
occasionally occurred at intervals of several years in the springtime).
This water did not remain standing but drained off after two or three
days. The city did not utilize round garbage containers. Al]. garbage
was deposited in cement containers, 1 m. x 2 m. x 2 m., which were
located at various convenient locations in housing areas, e.g., two or
three cement containers per city block. The city service collected
garbage from these receptables about once or twice a week. All garbage
was taken to a dump located about two kilometers west of the city.
Large dead animals (cows and horses) were buried after the hides and
meat had been salvaged. Dead people were regularly buried; cremation
was not practiced.
Pest Control
13. There was no office for the control of pests in dwellings. The State
Sanitation Control (GosSanKontrol) enforced maintenance of sanitary
conditions in large factories, in the kitchems of these factories
(where food was served), and in food stores. It did nothing for pri-
vate citizens or their houses. Mosquitoes were few, as were lice and
fleas. Rats and mice created no problem. Many types of insect powders
and liquid repellents were available in the city stores, and these
were effective. 50X1
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