Field Study Materials

3.1. Field Study Materials

The field study resulted in an assessment of water quality and quality fish and mollusk tissue associated with it. The composition of bottom sediments was also determined.

The field work was characterized by the following:

1. The sampling procedure, list of examined parameters, methodological approaches to determining such parameters and sampling schedule were consistent with those applied during similar studies conducted in Belarus and Ukraine;

2. Water flow rates were determined at monitored sampling sites concurrently with physical, chemical, hydrochemical, radiological, hydrobiological and bacteriological water quality parameters;

3. Reliance on the integrated approach in assessing the environmental state of surface water and bottom sediments (namely, their hydrochemical, radiological and bacteriological parameters);

4. Field works were geared to the subsequent assessment of the transboundary transfer of pollutants.

Table 3.1. List of Measured Parameters (21.05.2001 – 10.06.2001)

During the field study the weather was rather variable; it was cloudy and rained heavily. So, during the field study period the river collected its flow both from groundwater and rainwater. Even though the flow was calm some river stretches were characterized by higher-than-usual water turbidity and color index (the upper reaches of the Dnipro River and the Oster River on the border with Ukraine) as well as low water clarity (13 – 15 cm at sampling sites along the Dnipro and Vorsklitsa rivers). This was caused by the runoff of suspended solids with flood water from the drainage as well as by an increase in water flow velocity.

Water velocity and cross-sections were measured at 14 sampling locations. Water flow rates, calculated based on these measurements, are presented in Table 3.1.

The results of chemical and radiological water analyses are summarized in Appendix 3. The results of chemical and radiological analyses of fish and mollusk tissue and of bottom sediments are listed in Appendix 4.

Probability distribution functions (PDF) were formed for water quality parameters for which over 20 measurements were made. All PDFs are presented in Appendix 5.

The results of the hydrochemical survey of water quality of the Dnipro River and its tributaries showed that during the three-week field study period surface water quality of the Dnipro Basin (on the Russian territory) with respect to all parameters met the standards set for surface water sources of class 1 – 2 used for industrial and human consumption purposes. At all the examined sampling locations no restrictions on water consumption for recreational purposes were registered as far as hydrochemical parameters were concerned. However, when we analyzed the available data on bacteriological parameters we registered cases where recreational MACs (maximum acceptable concentrations) were exceeded for LIB (lactose positive intestinal bacillus) (1.2 times higher than MAC): the Snov and Sudost rivers near the Ukrainian border). As far as fish industry’s water needs are concerned water quality of the examined water bodies does not meet existing standards with respect to several parameters.

During the summer field works we established 8 tentative top-priority surface water quality parameters (limits) for which MACs established for water bodies used for fishing and fish-breeding purposes and those established for surface water sources used for industrial purposes and human consumption needs (class 1) were found to be exceeded. The list of surface water quality parameters (limits) and the ratio of actual (measured) concentrations of pollutants to the corresponding MACs are presented in Table 3.2.

Table 3.2. Cases where MACs of pollutants in surface water bodies of the Russian Dnipro Basin were exceeded

Table 3.3. contains MACs values for all water quality parameters listed in Table 3.2.

Table 3.3. MACs

According to the preliminary estimates, the highest levels of pollutants were found at transboundary sampling locations along the Snov, Vorskla and Vorsklitsa rivers. The least polluted are the Oster, Sozh and Iput rivers. The pollutants which have been found to exceed MACs the most are nitrite nitrogen, copper and TPC. Concentrations of sulphates, chlorides, ammonium and nitrite nitrogen and phenols were within the prescribed MACs. The available data on levels of pesticides such as DDT, a, b, g HCCH and phosphorus-containing compounds in the Seim and Psiol rivers on the border with Ukraine demonstrate that their levels do not exceed the existing limits.

Below is shown a tentative assessment of the transboundary transfer of top-priority pollutants and its natural (background) and anthropogenic components. Under examination were organic substances (for BOD₅), nitrite nitrogen and phosphates, since the respective data of hydrochemical analyses were available for almost all sampling locations.

Transboundary Transfer of Organic Substances (for BOD₅) by Watercourses of the Russian Dnipro Basin

Transboundary Transfer of Phosphates by Watercourses of the Russian Dnipro Basin

Transboundary Transfer of Nitrate Nitrogen by Watercourses of the Russian Dnipro Basin

Note to the Fig.: The natural level of nitrites is taken as zero.

The results of the radiological survey of the Seim and Psiol rivers show that during the sampling time the radiation levels in these watercourses were within the prescribed limitsThe intencity of irradiation dose (IID) did not exceed the natural gamma-background level. Specific radioactivity of radionuclides was within the prescribed limits. The results of radiological assays of the Snov, Desna, Iput and Sudost rivers in the vicinity of the village of Dobrodeyevka showed that the overall beta-radioactivity level was within the prescribed range. Higher total beta-radioactivity levels were registered at the following sites: in the Snov River near the village of Zasnoviye, in the Desna River near the village of Kamen and in the Sudost River near the village of Zhyriatino. This may serve as proof of possible radiological contamination of these rivers. The final conclusion about the magnitude of radiological contamination of the Dnipro River and its tributaries (water, bottom sediments and hydrobionts) can only be made based on additional radiological analyses of the above-said watercourses.

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