The current state of environmental pollution with heavy metals in the city of Svirsk
S.F. SHAYAKHMETOV, V.S. RUKAVISHNIKOV, O.M. ZHURBA, A.V. MERINOV, A.N. ALEKSEENKO
East Siberian Institute of Medical and Ecological Research, Angarsk, Russia
Keywords: snow cover, soils, accumulation of chemical elements, functional zones, territories of accumulated damage, atomic absorption spectrometry
Abstract
The regional problem of pollution of the natural environment components with heavy metals in the territory of accumulated environmental damage of the arsenic and battery plants in Svirsk (Irkutsk oblast) has been investigated. The analysis and assessment of the levels of content and distribution of mobile forms of polluting elements in the snow cover and soils in the industrial, residential and recreational zones of the city territory have been carried out. The following indicators were used for the ecological and hygienic assessment of pollution of the snow and soil covers: the coefficient of concentration and accumulation of chemical elements, the total pollution index, and the degree of chemical pollution. It has been established that within the considered functional zones of the urbanized territory of the city there have been observed increased levels of accumulation of mobile forms of heavy metals in the components of the natural environment, caused by the impact of emissions from industrial enterprises, a thermal power plant, household furnaces, and accumulated harmful waste from former enterprises. The accumulation of elements is manifested to the greatest extent for cadmium, manganese, zinc, and lead in snow, and for arsenic, zinc, chromium, and lead in soils. A comparatively lower level of soil pollution with heavy metals is noted in the city territory after the environmental rehabilitation of the accumulated waste of the Angarsk metallurgical plant. Direct and inverse correlations have been found between the content of elements in the snow cover and soils, indicating a high environmental significance of the impact of technogenic factors and increased migration capacity of mobile forms of cadmium, zinc and manganese in the “soil cover-adjacent environments” system. According to the total pollution index, the category of snow cover pollution corresponds to a low level, while the category of soil pollution ranges from a hazardous level in the multi-story residential sector and recreational area to an extremely hazardous one in industrial and low-rise residential zones. The degree of urban soil pollution increases in the following order: multi-story residential area < coastal forest area < low-rise residential sector < industrial zone.
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