Avdiivka. The worked-out sand quarry. A recreation zone in a front-line town

In the industrial Donbas, not rich in water resources, a worked-out sand quarry on the eastern side of Avdiivka has become a popular place of rest.

Avdiivka. The sand quarry

Industrial extraction of sand began in the 1930s. The deposits of quartz sand were used for making reinforced concrete products and paving slabs. After the sand cuts were worked out a pit gradually formed, which filled with crystal-clear water and turned into a zone of relaxation. 

The blue-turquoise water and the snow-white sandy beach attract holidaymakers from Avdiivka and the nearest towns with their extraordinary paradise beauty.

 

Depending on the depth and the weather, the colour range of the water changes in fantastic fashion from a tender turquoise and pale blue to a saturated sea-wave colour and aquamarine.

Sandbanks and small islets give the quarry lake an exotic, inimitable quality. Gulls, typical inhabitants of the sea coast, settle on these archipelagos.

The transparent water encourages the growth of algae from a great depth; sometimes these lianas reach up to 5 metres in length, complicating underwater travels for divers.

 

The quarry in winter

Beach rest and bathing in this little paradise carry a danger, because the remains of earth-moving machinery and technical equipment are rusting in the water.

 

Pipes, rails, cables, a winch and a transformer station have become the prospector's decor of the Avdiivka Eden.

 

To come down to the pond with its indented edge, framed by a wide strip of beach, you have to descend from a high bluff.

 

The earth dumps have covered themselves with dense vegetation, forming a green necklace around the quarry.

The reservoir is stocked with fish, and fishing enthusiasts know the special spots and boast of catches of pike, carp, perch, rudd and roach.

It is only 4.5 kilometres to the "hot spot", the Yasynuvata junction. The line of contact is a stone's throw away, and the shooting carries from very close by. But the people of Avdiivka and the other residents of the front-line zone have grown used to the cannonade over 7 years of fighting, and can tell by the sound that the firing is "a fair way off".

 

Before the war the overwhelming majority of those resting here were people from Donetsk, and the reservoir was called the "Donetsk Sea".

Trams and minibuses ran between the regional centre and Avdiivka, covering the 20 kilometres in 30-40 minutes. The wide strip of beach was completely filled with a public relaxing under the scorching sun. At weekends there was, quite literally, no room to swing a cat on the "Donetsk Maldives". Special services monitored the sanitary condition of the water and the beach, a rescue station and a first-aid post were at work. The shore strip was cleared of the ubiquitous reeds, the beach was equipped with portable toilets, sun canopies and parasols.

Everything changed in 2014, when the quarry came under fire. At the end of June families with their children were resting on the beach as always. And suddenly mines and shells began to fall into the water. During the active fighting the favourite place of rest emptied. But time passes, people are returning to Avdiivka, and the resort zone of the industrial town again lures lovers of bathing and sunbathing with its ultramarine beauty.

 

Officially bathing in the quarry pond is forbidden - fragments of shells may remain in it - but this does not stop people who are tired of constant fear and all the turmoil. Everyone wants an ordinary day off with family or friends, to admire the sapphire surface of the quarry lake in peace, to enjoy the idyll and to live peacefully, as before.

Coordinates: 48°9'29"N 37°45'16"E