Document Actions
Microbiological pollution
Up one level
4.4.2. Microbiological pollution
Microbial pollution refers to the adverse effects of microbial constituents of human or animal sewage released to water bodies. The most obvious evidence of the transboundary status of this issue is the presence of microbiological contaminants in the transboundary sections of the Dnipro River and its estuary where its drains into the Black Sea (Table 4.1). However, based on the prioritisation exercise detailed in Chapter 4, this issue was not considered a priority transboundary issue. Consequently, detailed causal chain analysis beyond the immediate causes of the issue was not carried out.
Environmental impacts
The impacts of this issue are linked closely with those of a number of other issues including modification of the hydrological regime (Section 4.3.1) and water resource pollution issues such as chemical pollution (Section 4.4).
The deterioration of drinking water quality and the decreased recreational value of water bodies
There have been numerous reports of the presence of pathogenic parasites in the local water supplies of the Dnipro Basin. Survey results on the sanitary situation suggest that non-disinfected sewage and wastewater are major carriers of infective Helminth eggs and represent a primary cause of contagious diseases.
Water mains and related inspection wells are reported to be a source of water pollution in the Russian Federation, due to their poor technical state, frequent breaks and the absence of disinfection practices. 40% of water samples collected in recreational areas were found to be non-compliant with regard to sanitary and microbiological requirements due to the presence of Helminth eggs. The provision of good quality drinking water has become a serious issue. Over 50% of municipal and corporate water supplies do not meet sanitary standards, with one quarter of water samples from centralised water supply systems and one third of samples from municipal water mains being non-compliant with existing requirements.
In Belarus, the percentage of non-compliant samples taken from or near public water intakes remains consistently high. For example, of 756 samples taken for chemical analysis, 27.6% were found to be non-compliant with regard to existing water quality standards. In terms of biological parameters 14.4% of 2,414 samples taken were found to be non-compliant. A review of available data on the impacts of anthropogenic pollution on human health in the Republic of Belarus indicates that there is a direct relationship between the level of microbiological pollution in river water and the increased incidence of various contagious diseases.
Existing water treatment processes are not capable of ensuring the safety of drinking water. In particular, chlorination processes do not completely remove certain persistent pathogenic viral agents. As a result, even pre-treated drinking water may contain pathogenic viruses that pose a threat to human health. This was the case in Gomel, where a large outbreak of water-borne enteroviral meningitis affected over 600 people, of which 70.6% of them were children.
There have been numerous and regular reports of the presence of pathogenic viruses, bacteria and parasites in the local water supplies of the Belorussian part of the Dnipro Basin. This represents a continuous threat of contagious disease outbreaks in the region.
Of greatest concern are regular reports of water-borne pathogens in the transboundary sections of the Dnipro Basin within Belarus. These include the Svisloch River (near Minsk); the Berezina River (near Svetlogorsk), the Pripyat River (near Petrikov, Mosyr, and Narovlya), the Sozh River (near Gomel and Krichev), and the Dnipro River (near Rogachev, Zhlobin, Rechitsa and Loev). Table 4.8 shows the contribution of pollution sources to the total pollution flow from Belarus and Figure 4.8 reflects the levels of pollution load received by the Svisloch River and Dnipro Basin as a whole from the City of Minsk in 2000.
Significant pollution load also enters the Pripyat Basin from both Belarus and Ukraine and the levels for 2000 are shown in Figure 4.12.
Figure 4.12 Pollution load (tonnes) entering the Pripyat Basin from (A) Belarus and (B) Ukraine (the levels shown are for 2000)
The 2000 monitoring data provided by the Ukrainian Sanitary/Epidemiological Service suggests that a considerable proportion of surface water bodies and drinking water supplies contain water of unacceptable quality. In 2000, 26.6% of surface water samples were found to be non-compliant with the existing sanitary standards, and 15.5% of them did not meet the microbiological requirements. However, the results of regular sanitary/bacteriological monitoring suggest that the microbiological component of river water quality has remained relatively stable over recent years.
Water quality in the region is affected by pollution entering the Dnipro with numerous agricultural, industrial and municipal wastewater discharges. It is also affected by the nature of the region itself, where large-scale industrial and agro-industrial operations are concentrated (refer to Section 3.3.3 on Ukrainian hotspots for more details). Regular monitoring data indicates that admissible limits for a range of pollutants have been consistently exceeded, thereby greatly affecting the overall sanitary situation in the Dnipro Basin. The sections where concentrations of pollutants have been generally higher than average and in some instances have reached or exceeded admissible limits are given below:
- The Dnipro River section within the Poltava Oblast (near the Psyol and Vorskla River inflows and near the Sovetsky village where the river enters the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast).
- Within the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast (in the Samara River mouth near Dnipropetrovsk, and near Vasilievka where the river enters the Zaporizhzhia Oblast).
More information on the deterioration of drinking water quality and the decreased recreational value of water bodies in the basin can be found in Section 3.3.8 on the sanitary situation, Section 3.2.9 on water-borne diseases and microbiological contamination and Section 3.3.2 (Review of the 2000-2001 field survey results). Details on transboundary hotspots and transboundary transport of pollution in the Dnipro Basin can be found in Sections 3.3.3 and 3.3.2.
Immediate causes
The following immediate causes contribute to microbiological pollution in the Dnipro Basin (also refer to Section 4.2):
- Discharges of insufficiently treated municipal wastewater;
- Discharges of insufficiently treated effluents by food processing industries;
- Diffuse pollution sources (especially during high flow periods);
- Discharges from livestock-rearing sites;
- Discharges from waste dumps.
1. Discharges of insufficiently treated municipal wastewater and effluents by food processing industries
Full details on municipal wastewater discharges can be found in Section 3.2.7 on the municipal utility sector, Section 3.2.10 on water uses in the Basin and in Section 4.4.1 on chemical Pollution (immediate causes). Details on discharges from food processing industries can be found in Section 3.2.4 on industry in the basin and lists of transboundary hotspots in the Dnipro Basin can be found in Section 3.3.3.
Discharges of microbiological pollution also occur from Landfill sites. In the Kursk Oblast in the Russian Federation, of 32 industrial and municipal waste dumps, only one is an engineered sanitary landfill. In the Republic of Belarus, only 15% of generated municipal solid waste is currently managed and disposed of properly, with only 4% of waste being recycled at the State Municipal Enterprise (Ecores), the sole specialised waste recycling facility existing in Belarus. There are numerous illegal waste dumps.
The Environmental Inspectorate of the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Nuclear Safety of Ukraine carried out a waste disposal site audit in 1995-1996. This covered 2,208 sites (580 industrial waste disposal sites and 1,628 municipal waste disposal sites) occupying an area of 35,400 hectares. The audit findings indicated that none of these sites met existing environmental safety requirements. The situation with municipal solid waste management is critical. For instance, the Zaporizhzhia Oblast has 27 operating landfills (occupying 209 hectares), 325 waste dumps in rural areas, and 373 cattle burial grounds. There are 201 waste dumps in the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, and 366 waste dumps in the Poltava Oblast. None of the rural waste disposal sites and cattle burial grounds meet environmental safety requirements. Refer to Section 4.4.1 (immediate causes of chemical pollution) for further details on waste disposal sites.
2. Diffuse pollution sources
The following diffuse pollution sources contribute to the microbiological pollution load received by water bodies in the Dnipro Basin:
- Surface runoff from urbanised areas and major highways.
- Surface runoff and direct discharges from livestock-rearing sites and rural settlement areas not connected to centralised wastewater treatment services.
- Pollution transport with rainstorm and snowmelt water runoff from agricultural land.
Further details on the poor coverage of centralised wastewater treatment in rural areas can be found in Section 3.2.7 on the municipal utility sector.
Underlying sectoral causes
The underlying causes of microbiological pollution mainly relate to the following sectors: industry urbanisation and agriculture (see Section 4.2).
