Scholarly record

IMPACT OF THE INDUSTRIAL GROWTH IN KALININGRAD REGION ON URBAN RIVER WATER QUALITY

Elena Demenchuk

Abstract

Water quality of the urban rivers become a critical issue in some regions of Russia including Kaliningrad region. Since the processes of development have affected already existing urban industrial sites in a number of cities in the region and lead to formation of the new, certain risks have arisen for rivers flowing through the territory of new industrial clusters. In this regard, it was estimated the ecological condition of the rivers in the area of industrial load on the following indicators: 1) assessing of the relative contribution from point (industrial and domestic) and diffuse sources (river catchment) into river water quality and 2) assessing of the risks for urban river's ecosystems. In the present study, microelements like Cu, Zn, Ni, Mn,Pb, Co,V and As concentrations were analyzed from 46 sediment samples. The samples were collected from small rivers, which catchment areas located in different industrial clusters. Evaluation of the contribution of diffuse sources of exposure was carried out using equations of regression. It was shown that urban stormwater runoff give maximum input to oil and chlorides pollutions of the rivers. The entry in the rivers of oil products occurs year-round, the input of chlorides occurs mainly with melt water. This is due to the practice of using technical salt as an ice-melting chemical. The 1,5-2 fold excess of MAC of chlorides was continually observed. Natural sources of heavy metals pollution have, as a rule, systematic and insufficiently varying nature (for example, geogenic origin of the arsenic and iron in sediments). They have a little effect on the overall level of pollution. The anthropogenic sources are numerous and diverse. They are characterized by the presence of local contamination sites with high content of heavy metals and metalloids. The values of potential ecological risk factor of heavy metals, which have an anthropogenic origin, in sediments of the most rivers is Cu > Pb > Zn = Cr. Cu is the most important pollutant of the sediments and its risk factor is up to the appreciable grade for 3 rivers. Other heavy metals (Zn, Cr, Pb) have low potential ecological risk.

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