Hot Spot – Agricultural Polluters of Vorsklitsa River

10.6. Hot Spot – Agricultural Polluters of Vorsklitsa River

10.6.1. Description of Facility

Vorsklitsa River is a right tributary of the Vorskla River; it flows into the Vorskla River at 286 km upstream from its mouth.  The length of the Vorsklitsa River in the territory of Belgorodskaya Oblast is 53 km; the drainage area is 734 km².  The Vorsklitsa River is referred to as a significant water body for the fishing industry.

The main pollutants of the Vorsklitsa River are agricultural entities, including the following cattle-breeding complexes and farms:

- “Agroinvest” cattle-breeding complex for 1300 head of cattle;

- Krasnoyaryzhsky Rayon - “Krasnoyaruzhsky” cattle-breeding complex with 2000 head of cattle, and a pig-breeding complex with 950 head of pigs;

- Krasnoyaryzhsky Rayon - Agro-industrial “Krasnoyaruzhsky” cattle-breeding complex with 11000 head of cattle, pig-breeding complex with 270 head of pigs;

- Graivoronsky Rayon - “Niva” – cattle-breeding complex with 500 head of cattle;

- Graivoronsky Rayon – “Zarechye” – cattle-breeding complex with 500 head of cattle and smaller farms.

All manure should be removed to the fields, however this is not always carried out and not in full volume for various reasons: manure-yards and catch pits with insufficient capacity; non-observance of the established technology for manure processing and application, and a shortage of motorized transportation, fuel, etc.

As of September 1, 2002, there were 37.7 thousand tonnes of manure which had not been removed to the farm areas within the Vorsklitsa River basin.

Considerable pollution from the cattle-breeding complexes reaches the water bodies along with the surface runoff.  Prior to its clarification, fluid manure is an extremely potent source of pollution.

Summer pastures and cattle-pens are located along the banks of the rivers which causes additional pollution reaching the water bodies, especially during periods when watering is directly from the river.

Storage reservoirs and ponds located within the drainage area of the Vorsklitsa River play an important role.  There are 18 ponds (Table 10.14): 9 ponds in Graivoronsky Rayon, 4 ponds in Krasnoyaruzhsky Rayon and 5 in Rakityansky Rayon.  Five ponds are stocked with fish.  These are: Kosimovsky storage pond in the Vorsklitsa River near the village of Kosimovo; Lisenkovsky storage pond in the River of Lisenok (left tributary of the Vorsklitsa River) near the village of Dorogosh; a pond in the Lisenok River near the village of Ivanovskaya Lisitsa; a pond in the Solovyova Brook (right tributary of the Vorsklitsa River) near the village of Dorogosh; and a pond in the hollow of Lisenok near the village of Kazachya Lisitsa.

Only the “Graivoronsky Fish Farm” has a water use license (surface water bodies) (Kosimovsky storage pond; Lisenkovsky storage pond).  There are no licenses for any of the other stocked ponds.

Annually during the fishing season more than 8 mln.m³ of normative-pure water (not treated) is discharged to the Vorsklitsa River from the storage reservoirs and ponds thereby also contributing to the pollution of the water body.

Table 10.14 : List of Storage Reservoirs and Ponds Located within Drainage Area of the Vorsklitsa River

Dung-yards

Graivoronsky Rayon

1        Farm “Vozrozhdeniye” – 320 head of cattle

2.        Cattle-breeding complex “Agroinvest” - 1300 head of cattle;

3.        Cattle-breeding complex “Niva” – 500 head of cattle;

4.        Farm “Poroz” - 500 head of cattle;

5.        Farm “Zarechye” - 500 head of cattle;

6.        Farm “Krasny Oktyabr” - 370 head of cattle.

Krasnoyaryzhsky Rayon

7.        Cattle-breeding complex “Krasnoyaruzhsky” - 2000 head of cattle, 950 head of pigs;

8.        Farm “Terebrinskoye” – 400 head of cattle; 100 head of pigs;

9.        Agro-industrial cattle-breeding complex “Krasnoyaruzhsky” - 11000 head of cattle, 270 head of pigs.

Licences

“Graivoronsky Fish Farm”

a)        Storage pond in the Vorsklits River.  Technical characteristics:

total water storage – 4.389 mln. m³, payload volume – 4.139 mln. m³, mirror area – 1.26 km², normal pool level – 146.7 m.

b)        Storage pond in the Lisenok River.  Technical characteristics:

total water storage – 2.6 mln. m³, payload volume – 2.33 mln. m³, mirror area – 0.89 km², normal pool level –141.1 m.

Water quality data have shown that the level of water pollution in the Vorsklitsa River is referred to as 3^rd class of purity, that is, moderately polluted.  The quality of the water in the Vorsklitsa River does not meet the requirements of fish-farming category as for: total iron (3.5-5.2 maximum allowable concentration), copper (1.2-1.9 maximum allowable concentration), nitrates (2.7-1.4 maximum allowable concentration), BOD₅ (1.3-1.5 maximum allowable concentration) and manganese (2.2 maximum allowable concentration).  The convergence of the analysis results with the results of the Sumsky Oblast water industry laboratory is satisfactory.

10.6.2. Calculation of Costs Required to Prevent Pollution of Vorsklitsa River

Almost 40 thousand tonnes of manure have not been removed to the fields and have become accumulated in the territory of the farms.  Its components are carried into water bodies with surface runoff.

There is the shortage of manure-yards.  The manure volumes have accumulated probably for a period of more than one year, therefore the accepted period for accumulation cannot be for more than 5 years.  During this period, the manure mass is transformed into high quality fertilizer, which can be used and sold in the market.

Based on such input data, it is possible to determine that there is a need for manure-yards for 22 thousand tonnes, which on average it means 2 thousand tonnes capacity at each of the large cattle-breeding complex.

According to the aggregative specific indices for the determination of financial expenditures in the 2001 prices, it is possible to estimate the cost of construction of the manure -yards on the basis of 27 USD for one tonnes of dung.  In that way, construction of manure -yards for a total capacity of 22 thousand tonnes will require 594 thousand USD.

During the fishing season, about 8 mln.m³ of normative-pure water is discharged to the Vorsklitsa River from the stocked storage reservoirs and ponds.

The results of water quality analysis of the pondwater from Graivoronsky Fish Farm (which has the license) enables the determination of the ecological damage caused by water annually discharged from the Kosimovsky storage pond during the fishing season (Table 10.15).

The damage from mono-polluter is 449.45 t.

Ecological damage makes up:

D_a = 8400 * 1.8 * 449.45 = 6795.7 thousand roubles.

The volume of water discharged is about 4 mln. m³.

Assuming that according to the characteristics of the water that the other storage reservoirs and ponds have insignificant differences (and the total volume of annual discharge of such water is 8 mln. m³), we can say that the total damage caused by these discharges is 13 000 – 14 000 thousand roubles per year.

With a loss of profit equal to 10% of the damage, this amounts to 1 400 thousand roubles.

The economic result of the mitigation measures can make up annually 14 500 – 15 500 thousand roubles annually.

Taking into account that the effectively admissible pay-back period is not less than 10-12 years, the realization of the mitigation measures (elimination of pollution caused by fish-breeding storage pools and ponds) will require 140 – 150 mln. roubles for a 10 year period or 4400 – 4700 thousand USD.

The total costs including construction of dung-yards can add up to 5000 – 5500 thousand USD.

Table 10.15 : Calculation of Mono-Pollutant

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