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Sources of Information and Control of Data Quality
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5.1. Sources of Information and Control of Data Quality
In order to identify the Hot Spots and to measure the priority of the Hot Spots, the national experts used official data of State water cadastre prepared by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection jointly with the Ministry of Health [1], data of state statistics concerning use of water (form No. 2-OC (WATER), materials submitted by Brest, Vitebsk, Gomel, Minsk and Mogilev oblast committees of natural resources and environmental protection, municipal and rayon inspections of natural resources and environmental protection of the towns of Minsk, Borisov, Bobruisk, Soligorsk, Slutsk, Pinsk, Mogilev, Orsha, Bereza, Gomel, Retchitsa, Zhlobin, Mozyr, Svetlogorsk as well as the enterprises: Production Association “Minskvodokanal”, “Retchitsavodokanal”, Communal Enterprise “Gomelvodokanal”, Mogilev plant of sediment processing, Department of Water Communal Economy of the town of Borisov, Communal Enterprise “Vodokanal” of the Town of Bobruisk, Production Association “Khimvolokno” of the Town of Svetlogorsk, Svetlogorsk heat station, “Berezovsky Vodokanal”, Joint-Stock Company “Mozyrsky petroleum refinery”, Communal Enterprise of the Town of Orsha, Pinsk Communal Enterprise, Communal enterprise “Zhlobinsk Vodokanal”, Communal enterprises of Soligorsk and Slutsk. The experts also used research materials of the Central Research Institute and data from field observations. The plan showing the localities of effluent discharges from wastewater treatment facilities of the above enterprises, included in the preliminary list of the Hot Spots, are provided in Figures B1 – B14 (Annex B).
In accordance with the “Provision on the procedure of conduct of state water cadastre” approved by the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus, all water users should keep records of water use. The responsibility for accuracy and fullness of primary record keeping of water use is imposed on the managers of enterprises which use water or discharge their effluent to water bodies, storage ponds, filter beds, etc.
Primary record keeping of water use is conducted in accordance with the norms outlined in the document “Primary record keeping of water use. General provisions. Instruction of water inspectors” approved by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection on July 21, 1995. According to this normative document, enterprises must install hydrometric equipment at all locations of water intake in order to take measurements of water intake and to determine the volume of effluent discharged in all water outlets.
The primary record of water use should be made with an error not exceeding ± 5%. It is stipulated by the Law “On the tax for the use of natural resources (environmental tax)” and the GOST 8.145-75 for commercial record: “If the instrumental record of water use is impossible, the water consumer must establish reasonable terms for the installation of measuring devices at the water intake and effluent discharge facilities.” Determination of the volumes of discharged effluent is of special concern as the quantitative characteristics of the discharged effluent confirms the credibility of information about water use and has a direct impact on the determination of volumes of contaminants in discharged effluents.
The variants of effluent discharge can be as follows:
- the volume of effluent discharged is noticeably lesser compared to the volume of water withdrawal because of evaporation, in-process loss and other reasons;
- the volume of effluent discharge is approximately equal to the volume of water withdrawal;
- the volume of effluent discharge exceeds the volume of water withdrawal because of water infiltration to water outlets, melting of snow, atmospheric precipitation and other reasons.
As a consequence of the first and the third variants of effluent discharge, the use of calculation and non-instrumental methods for the primary record of water use leads to gross errors and prevents the establishment of reasonable limits of water use as well as prevents the sound calculation of rates of environmental taxes for the environmental pollution. Moreover, there is an adverse impact on the reliability of the data presented by the enterprises in the statistics form 2-OC (Water), and for the data reflecting the volumes of contaminants discharged (as is presented in the records for local monitoring of environment pollution submitted by enterprises to the territorial monitoring centre attached to the committees of natural resources and environment.)
