IRKUTSK, Russia, July 1 (UPI) -- Russian deep-water submersibles descended into the world's deepest freshwater lake to test for pollution from a Russian paper mill, sponsors said Thursday.
Mikhail Slipenchuk, the director of a conservation fund for Lake Baikal, said the minisubs would dive near a pulp and paper mill on the lake July 12 to test for water contamination, Russia's state-run news agency RIA Novosti reports.
Environmental groups in Russia gathered nearly 50,000 signatures in an effort to prevent further pollution from the paper mill. Work at the facility was suspended in 2009 because of ecological concerns.
The paper mill was built in 1996 and quickly became the target of environmental critics who complained the facility was the single largest source of contamination in the 216,000-square-mile freshwater lake.
The research team started work Thursday in other parts of Lake Baikal and is to continue surveys until September.
The lake was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996.
