The water basin of Saint Petersburg is quite big. First of all it consists of the Neva River and the part of water area of the Gulf of Finland, which used to be called the Neva Bay. In accordance with hydrological standards all territories, which provide water to the Neva River and the Neva Bay should be also a part of this basin. In particular, the Ladoga Lake also refers to territories mentioned above, and accordingly all the rivers running into it. Finally, here it is necessary to add such large water areas as system of the Saimaa Lake (Finland) through the Vuoksa River, basin of the Onega Lake connected to the Ladoga Lake by the Svir River, and the whole water system of the Ilmen Lake through the Volkhov River. This whole water structure forms very large and complicatedly built region with huge number of variable and, as a rule, powerful polluters.
However our report will concern only the Neva Bay, therefore it is the accumulator of the significant part of that technogenic material which comes from the rivers. It is necessary to emphasize, that in this, the most Eastern and deadlock like, part of the Gulf of Finland the ecological situation is determined not only by a runoff of the rivers and its most abounding in water the Neva River, but also by inner rather massive sources, among which the port of St.-Petersburg should be mentioned. Besides, the water area itself is hard-pressed by the additional and rather strong technogenic pressure caused by navigation, fishery, uncontrolled waste discharge of a various waste products and by seaworthy activity. The increasing load on the city seaport will lead to the further deterioration of the ecological condition of the Neva Bay.
There has been gathered a significant natural and statistical material of various ecological character about the basin of Saint Petersburg and the Gulf of Finland. This report can only mention and show just several figures, giving the idea about the scale of the technogenic load to which the Neva Bay and the Gulf of Finland are being exposed today.
The main pollution of the seawater area falls on Saint Petersburg. It is important to remind, that treatment plants of the city are still not able to process all urban runs-off and the system of clearance still remains technologically imperfect.
Annual receipt of biogenous and polluting substances from the Neva for 1995 - 1996 amounted (tons):
1 Total nitrogen - 45337.5; iron - 16167;
2 Oil products - 7158.85; aluminum - 4825;
3 Total phosphorus - 2088.94; manganese - 666.3;
4 Phenols - 225.54; copper – 223.44; lead-85.84; chromium – 52.6.
It is natural that the basic technogenic load falls on the Neva Bay. Thus the average content of the majority of heavy metals in bottom sediments here exceeds a regional background by 2 - 4 times as much. Concentration of hydrocarbons is higher than maximum concentration limit by 1.5 times as much, of phenols – by 2-3 times as much. The facts of exceeding of maximum concentration limit of organic substances are registered in a mouth of the Neva, at Strelna, Petrodvorets, Lomonosovo and the Lisiy Nos, and also near the Verperluda River.
Silting of water quarries, small stream flows and separate sections near the complex of protective constructions could be referred to ecological problems. The peats content of water and the relative content of blue-green seaweed have been increasing in some places.
In 1998 sanitary - bacteriological indexes of quality of the water in the Neva Bay exceeded the admissible level. Thus there have been recorded the fecal nature of bacterial pollution and the presence of pathogenic micro flora.
Specialists note that the pollution of the Neva Bay in general essentially exceeds average indices over Russia and similar figures over a foreign part of the Gulf of Finland. A.P. Alhimenko notes that the main reasons for such an ecological condition are caused by regular breaking of ecological standards, and also by ignoring of a real ecological situation at placing and operation of various branches of economy. Besides, such factors as depreciation of the equipment of the factories and bad technical condition of the whole operating infrastructure, and also use of the old ecologically dirty technologies play a negative role in the formation of ecological situation of the region All this can be described as a low level ecological culture.
Currently the ecological problems of water basin of our city have two main ways of solution.
The first way
It can be defined as strategic. Its developing will allow not only controlling the ecological situation, but also managing it. This way has an aim to take the pro-active solutions, which have scientific base. In fact the question is a formation of ecological policy of the region.
Such works are carried out already for the Russian part of the Baltic. Offers on creation of a system of regional complex ecological monitoring can be considered one of the first options [9.] There have been specified the criterion functions of this system, its problems, principles of construction, structure and external communications of information technology and also there have been scheduled the ways of a information supply. However all this appeared non-viable. Probably, one of the reasons of it was that such system though intended for a solution of wide range of ecological problems, appeared possible only for the one purpose i.e. the ecological monitoring. Besides it was not connected to the certain region and possessed an abstract character mainly.
Recently the group of specialists of NW Scientific Research Institute of the Heritage was offered an original program of information system of environmental safety specially intended for the Baltic region of Russia. On February 8, 2002 it was reported at a Plenary session of the State Duma of the Russian Federation and met with approval.
Its point reflects the following:
1. Gathering and the analysis of the information on the running ecological condition
2. The Russian part of the Baltic Sea.
3. The control over a level of environmental safety with the purpose of forecasting of supernumerary situations and duly warning of the population, enterprises and structures of the Ministry of Emergency Situations
4. Elaborating of recommendations on ecological safety.
The information system of environmental safety (ISES) should consist of 4 basic points:
1. Databank (D).
2. The atlas of maps (À).
3. Ecological monitoring (Ì).
4. Algorithm EIE (estimation of impact on environment)
I. The databank is the permanent functioning structure intended not only for gathering, accumulation and processing of the information on the environment and its functioning in conditions of massive techno genesis, but also for decision-making concerning the extent of ecological hazard and prospects of certain measures on nature protection
The creation of a databank should be oriented on the long-term and permanent functioning program. It is necessary to create neither a catalogue, nor a storage and nor a cadastre named "databank", but the structure of the forecast and management.
It will help to stimulate the investment activity in a view of developing of nature protection technologies and will provide the normalization of ecological conditions in the Baltic region of Russia.
Two large parts possessing not only general but also its own independent value make the basis of bank:
1 The part of historical materials. A computer library of archival, fund and literary materials is to create its basis. Therefore their volume is quite big its necessary to develop the system of limitations oriented on their quality and the functional significance.
2 The part of the current information (natural and design). It consists of materials of researches and observations made during the works under ISES program.
The Baltic has inner and external borders. Among them the most important for forecasts, control and management are the following: water area = bottom, water area = aerosphere, water area = dry land. The information concerning them is of special importance. Working out of this section of the program is based on known researches under the theory of catastrophes and self-organizing systems.
II. The atlas of maps. This part of information system of environmental safety can formally be considered a part of a databank. But it is better to set it as an independent point. There are several reasons for it:
1. There are huge amount of cartographical materials on the Baltic.
2. They consist of extremely various data i.e. the results of surveying works, current charts, temperatures and etc.
3. Maps have various scales and purposes; they cover the whole Russian part of the Baltic, as well as the certain sections, waterways, bays, etc.
The atlas of maps will allow setting boundary and initial conditions during the description of the ecological processes, and also understanding the "scene" on which nature landscapes and the sources of technogenic perturbation are interacting.
GÎ. Ecological monitoring is a procedure of regular tracking of parameters of ergonomic system:
HUMAN = INDUSTRY = NATURE. The conditions of safety of each element from this triad are connected to functioning of system, which is determined by some criterion function. Situations of emergency occur due to loss of system stability when it becomes unpredictable, in other words criterion function doesn't correspond to it anymore.
Monitoring allows anticipating such kind of situations. It creates a basis for use of the third law of ecology, stating that «the nature knows better».
The ports with their huge volume of loading-unloading works might be the most important for the Baltic. Here should be referred the sea transportations, oil and gas pipelines, etc. Anyway this part of monitoring is provided by the enterprises themselves. However for the solution of problems of environmental safety of the Baltic region this work should be involved in the general program of environmental safety.
IV. Algorithm EIE. The estimation of affecting of technogenic sources on the environment (EIE) should be taken as a final stage of research of an ergonomic triad. Forecasts and recommendations of maintenance of ergonomic system in a regime of criterion function are made on the EIE basis.
The second way
It can be called a way of the extreme situations. It concerns both the solution of tasks of current importance and the problems concerning accidents or catastrophes. In order to demonstrate the example of it we will consider one of the main questions of pollution and clearance of water area of the ports connected with spillages of oil and oil products.
138 rescue operations with vessels, 58 operations on removal of the oil spillages were carried out by BASS forces for the last five years. Due to the increasing attention to a problem of protection of a marine environment the active cooperation with the oil companies (such as Lukoil OJSC, Transneft OJSC, etc.) on maintenance of environmental safety in regions of their activity is carried out.
The most widespread non-emergency form of such pollution is so-called damping - discharge of oil products into the water during bunkering operations and transportation of such a cargo. The scale of this form of pollution is impressive. It has been counted up, for example that during the transportation about 2 million tons of oil gets into the sea. And this does not include accidents. Large emergency spillages for such small water areas as the Gulf of Finland and moreover the Neva Bay will appear catastrophic for their ecological condition. Theoretical estimations have shown that emergency spillage of 200 thousand tons is able to transform all the Baltic Sea into biological desert.
From the recent major accidents connected with oil products spillages in our region it is necessary to mention the North West bunker vessel with 500 tons of fuel oil onboard sunken in water areas of the port of St.-Petersburg. Our company- Orlan-Eko CJSC- actively took part in removing of the consequences of the accident. Our company possesses technologies, which allowed executing of washing and steaming of capacities of fuel oil and clearing of the part of water area damaged by fuel oil spillage. The company also possesses the appropriate technologies on gathering of oil products and their preparation for secondary use. Such an organization of work allows the enterprise not just to be engaged in reanimation of waters polluted by oil products, but also to earn money, transforming gathered material into the goods.
The experience demonstrated that it is impossible to fully provide a complex of measures under prevention of oil spillages and, if they are available, revealing them in time and localizing and promptly removing the aftereffects of spillages, relying only on the state structures. Therefore it is necessary to involve the commercial structures possessing an appropriate technical potential and resources, such as KONTUR SPb LLC, Eco Phoenix Holding OJSC etc., into these kinds of activity. Today these companies largely provide environmental safety to the port of Saint Petersburg, at the same time producing great volumes of secondary fuel which qualities are not worse than the produced furnace fuel oil. Thus such a secondary fuel costs much less.
To summer it all up it is necessary to say that real situations of functioning of ergonomic systems on water areas of Saint Petersburg lead us to the necessity of developing of the both directions:
- Strategy for the constant control, forecast and minimization of ecological risks and
- Tactics, aimed for removing of ecological accidents.
The deputy general director of KONTUR SPb,
Sergey Zvezdunov
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