Scholarly record

USE OF GEOINFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES IN ASSESSING AEROGENIC EXPOSURE OF POPULATION LIVING IN ZONES INFLUENCED BY HEAT-AND-POWER ENGINEERING OBJECTS

Н.В. Зайцева, S. Kleyn, Alena M. Andrishunas, Ekaterina Popova, Stanislav Balashov

Abstract

The purpose of this study is a spatial-dynamic and structural hygienic assessment of the impact of the activities of thermal power facilities on the quality of atmospheric air and the formation of potential risks of harm to the health of the population in a large industrial center with a population of more than 350 thousand people and a total area of more than 500 square kilometers. At present, heat and power facilities belong to the main industries and form significant potential risks of harm to public health in the zone of their negative impact. In this regard, further study of the causes and conditions for the formation of health disorders associated with the quality of atmospheric air in the zones of influence of heat power engineering objects is an urgent task and a vector for further research by the authors of this article. The main sources, emissions of which determine the high level of air pollution in Chita (API up to 38.2), are enterprises of the heat and power complex, boiler houses of housing and communal services, stove heating of private housing. On this territory, there are 2 large thermal power plants, boiler houses and 1,100 autonomous heat supply sources. The main types of fuel for thermal power facilities in this area are coal, oil, peat and oil shale (90%). In total, more than 240 substances (more than 75 thousand tons per year) are emitted into the atmospheric air of the city from stationary (more than 2 thousand sources, more than 74 thousand tons per year) and mobile (more than 994 tons per year) sources. Thermal power facilities contribute more than 90% to the gross emission of pollutants from all sources of air pollution. The use of geographical information systems made it possible to assess the spatial distribution of atmospheric air pollution generated by emissions from heat and power complex facilities. According to the calculated data, in residential areas of the city more than 85% (60.64 km 2) of the area of residential buildings is under the influence of pollutants. Priority pollutants that generate elevated levels of exposure, the sources of which in this area are heat power facilities, include substances that are hazardous to human health, including: nitrogen dioxide, carbon, sulfur dioxide, carbon oxide, inorganic dust 70 70-20% SiO2, benzo(a)pyrene ( up to 26 MPC a.d, up to 47.6 MPC y. a). At the same time, at the posts for monitoring the quality of atmospheric air for substances typical for emissions from thermal power facilities, the most significant excess of hygienic standards is noted for benzo(a)pyrene (up to 19.1 MPC a.d), suspended solids (up to 2.27 MPC a.d, up to 27.6 MPC o.t), hydrogen sulfide (up to 18.75 MPC o.t), phenol (up to 8.5 MPC o.t), carbon (5.8 MPC o.t). A coupled analysis using geographical information systems made it possible to establish that the share of the population living in conditions of atmospheric air pollution (above the permissible hygienic standards) in this territory, according to the calculated data, is more than 80%. The established levels of exposure to atmospheric air pollution as a result of the activity of heat power facilities form potential risks of harm to health from the organs of the musculoskeletal system, the development of neoplasms, diseases of the endocrine system, the circulatory system, respiratory organs, and digestion (U l = 0.0017-0,02).

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DOI resolver: doi.org/10.5593/sgem2021/5.1/s20.062

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