General Trends in the Environmental State of the Atmosphere of the Industrial Territory of the Nizhny Novgorod Region and the Sanitary Protection Zone of Nizhny Novgorod's City-Forming Enterprise

Journal of Environmental Treatment Techniques

2020, Volume 8, Issue 4, Pages: 1429-1433

J. Environ. Treat. Tech.

ISSN: 2309-1185

Journal web link: http://www.jett.dormaj.com

https://doi.org/10.47277/JETT/8(4)1438

General Trends in the Environmental State of the

Atmosphere of the Industrial Territory of the Nizhny

Novgorod Region and the Sanitary Protection Zone

of Nizhny Novgorod's City-Forming Enterprise

Andrey Vladimirovich Kozlov *, Nataliya Nikolaevna Koposova , Irina Pavlovna Uromova ,

Aleksandra Viktorovna Volkova , Irina Rafailovna Novik , Lev Dmitrievich Kovler , Artyom

Yurievich Zhadaev , Yuri Mikhailovich Avdeev

Minin Nizhny Novgorod State Pedagogical University, Nizhny Novgorod, Russia

Nizhny Novgorod State University of Architecture and Construction, Nizhny Novgorod, Russia

Nizhny Novgorod State University of Engineering and Economics, Knyaginino, Nizhny Novgorod Region, Russia

Vologda State University, Vologda, Russia

Received: 13/06/2020

Accepted: 21/09/2020

Published: 20/12/2020

Abstract

The paper presents the trends in atmospheric pollution of the Balahna agglomeration (Nizhny Novgorod region, Russia), identified

based on the ecological and chemical analysis of snow masses accumulated in 2019 and 2020, and also describes some features of the

pollution of snow accumulated in 2020 in the protective zone of one of the city-forming enterprises of Nizhny Novgorod. Within Balahna-

Pravdinsk, the presence of chlorides, sulfates, and hydrocarbonates in the snow waters was revealed, which may indicate the presence of

corresponding ecotoxicants in the gas and dust emissions of the enterprise. Within Nizhny Novgorod, the presence of increased

concentrations of ammonia, as well as the presence of nitrogen oxides and dust-like pollution in the atmosphere of an industrial area, was

established.

Keywords: Atmospheric pollution level, Ecological analysis of snow, Snow as a deposition medium of ecotoxicants from the atmosphere,

Gas and dust emissions, Sanitary protection zone

Introduction¹

air pollution often takes the form of increasing trends, in modern

environmental monitoring, the dynamics of these negative

processes are monitored not only by direct laboratory analysis of

air masses but also based on the analysis of snow deposits in

terms of acidity, the content of priority chemical substances and

the presence of solid dusty suspensions [7-11]. Since the snow

cover is a temporary depositing medium, for ecotoxicants, it can

act as an object for monitoring atmospheric pollution, and its

laboratory analysis allows establishing the composition of

impurities in the air and tracking possible sources of emissions

in the reviewed area [12-15].

In modern urban ecology, there are several environmental

problems inherent in almost all urban areas of industrial

development type, which most often consists of a spectrum of

the same factors of impact on the environment. These include

chronic dusting of the local atmosphere over cities and adjacent

territories (in the case of agglomeration frameworks), pollution

of surface water bodies due to the discharge of both normatively

clean and untreated wastewater of industrial, household and

storm origin, degradation of the soil cover due to excessive

opening and reclamation territories and many other problems [1-

The territory of the Balahna-Pravdinsk agglomeration,

located in the Nizhny Novgorod region (Russia), is characterized

by the presence of pulp and paper (Volga JSC), motor transport

6]. Industrial gas and dust emissions containing oxides of

carbon, sulfur, and nitrogen, combining with atmospheric

moisture, form carbonic, sulfuric, and nitric acids and, thereby,

contribute to the acidification of precipitation. This leads to an

increase in the general acidification of the atmosphere and its

pollution by secondary pollutants. Since the problem of chronic

(PKF Luidor LLC, RusKomTrans LLC), electrical and

electronic (NPO Pravdinskiy radiozavod JSC, Uzola LLC),

chemical (Biaxplen LLC, Real-Invest Group of Companies),

mining and processing (Balkum LLC – INESCO Company

Group) and mixed (STP LLC) industries, which can potentially

provide a certain impact on the local environment [1, 14, 16].

The industrial territory of Nizhny Novgorod is characterized

by the presence of micro-districts that are quite contrasting in

Corresponding author: Andrey Vladimirovich Kozlov, Minin

Nizhny Novgorod State Pedagogical University, Nizhny

Novgorod, Russia. E-mail: kozlov.a_v@bk.ru

429

Journal of Environmental Treatment Techniques

2020, Volume 8, Issue 4, Pages: 1429-1433

terms of pollution, since in its urban planning it has many

industrial centers, including those with various gas and dust

emissions as waste. One of such industrial infrastructures of the

city is GAZ OJSC, an automobile plant with a long-term

successful history and a full-fledged production complex.

However, like any city-forming enterprise, the plant in question

is characterized by a chronic presence of gas and dust emissions

into the atmosphere, which is known to make a certain

contribution to the ecological state of the local atmosphere [12,

of February 2020 in different districts of the cities of Balahna

and Pravdinsk, as well as at the end of February 2020 from 7

points tied to the border of the sanitary protection zone of the

GAZ OJSC located in the Avtozavodskaya district of Nizhny

Novgorod.

Snow samples were taken manually using a plastic cylinder

(ø = 10 cm, h = 20 cm) in opaque plastic bags. For tapping,

visually clean and even areas of snow cover were selected; the

area of each equaled 10 m . At one site, 5 spot samples were

3, 17]. Our study aimed to assess the ecological state of the

local atmosphere within the Balahna-Pravdinsk agglomeration

Nizhny Novgorod region) according to the level of pollution of

taken, which were subsequently mixed into 1 combined sample.

In total, 10 combined samples were taken for each year of

research on the territory of the Balahna agglomeration (Figure 1)

and 8 combined samples on the territory of the sanitary

protection zone of an industrial enterprise in Nizhny Novgorod,

including 1 sample from the natural area (field) of the gully-

ravine mesorelief near with Druzhba horticultural non-

commercial association of citizens (SNT) located 1 km from the

highway, taken as a conditional background object (Figure 2).

The samples were delivered and analyzed at the Ecological-

Analytical Laboratory for Monitoring and Environmental

Protection at Minin University.

(

snow masses accumulated in the zone of the potential impact of

industrial territories, as well as to assess the ecological state and

the level of pollution of snow cover accumulated at the sanitary

protection zone of the city-forming enterprise of Nizhny

Novgorod. The study of the snow cover was carried out in

compliance with the requirements of regulatory and

methodological documents.

Materials and methods

Tapping was carried out in mid-March 2019 and at the end

Figure 1: The layout of snow masses tapping points within the Balahna-Pravdinsk agglomeration, Nizhny Novgorod region (2019-2020)

Figure 2: Layouts of tapping points of snow masses within the sanitary protection zone of the industrial enterprise in Nizhny Novgorod (2020)

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2020, Volume 8, Issue 4, Pages: 1429-1433

In the snow meltwater, acidity was determined by a

Air pollution from dust components, estimated based on the

particulate matter index, can be considered insignificant. For

both years of study, the level of snow dusting turned out to be

approximately the same depending on the tapping location:

minimal at points 5 and 6, average at points 1, 2, 4, and 8,

relatively increased at points 3, 7, 9, and 10, the location of

which is confined either to industrial areas or the passage of

highways. It should also be noted that in 2020 the dust content in

the snow masses was consistently lower than in 2019.

potentiometric method using

МАRК-903 pH meter-

millivoltmeter according to RD 52.24.495-2005; the content of

suspended particles – by a gravimetric method using Vibra

HT224RCE analytical balance (Japan) according to GOST

8164-72 (filtration of 1 l of snow water); the content of

ammonium and nitrate forms of nitrogen – by ion-selective

ionometry using an Expert-001-3 (0.4) ion meter and ELIT-021

and ELIT-051 ion-selective electrodes according to GOST 4192-

2; the content of hydrocarbonates – by acid-base titration with

.1 M HCl solution using a titration device in accordance with

Air pollution by ammonia and nitrogen oxides, estimated

based on indicators of the content of ammonium cation and

nitrate anion in snow water, turned out to be quite noticeable and

especially concerning the ammonium cation. Thus, at points 1,

2, and 10 during the two years of the study, an excess of the

level of permissible concentration for ammonia was observed,

and in 2020 it was observed additionally at points 5 and 9. It

seems that local enterprises are characterized by the presence of

ammonia impurities in emissions. The level of ammonium

concentration was higher during the snow accumulation period

in 2020 almost at all tapping points, and for nitrate anion, it was

higher at all tapping points. However, no trend in the territorial

distribution of nitrates in the snow waters was revealed.

GOST

52407-2005; the content of

chlorides – by

argentometry with 0.48% solution of AgNO3 in accordance with

GOST 4245-72; the content of sulfates – by iodometry with 0.05

M Na2S2O3 solution in accordance with GOST 4389-72 [18].

To determine the conditionally background ecological state

of the snow cover in the area under study, the snow meltwater

sampled from a field located in a ravine mesorelief near the

Druzhba horticultural noncommercial association of citizens

(

SNT) of the Prioksky district of Nizhny Novgorod at the end of

February 2020, was analyzed.

Regarding the acidity of the snow masses accumulated

within the sanitary protection zone of the industrial enterprise in

Nizhny Novgorod, it should be noted that they were not

Results

The study of the acidification of atmospheric precipitation in

the Balahna-Pravdinsk territory, estimated based on the acidity

index of local snow masses, showed that, in general, they had a

certain acid reaction in the weakly acidic interval. Almost all

tapping points showed a downward trend in snow acidity by

characterized by

scattered range of values or an

underestimation of indicators. The hydrogen index of meltwater

varied in the range of weak reactions and reactions close to

neutral.

020, except for the sample from point 2 (industrial area).

Table 1: The content of chemicals in the water of snow masses accumulated within the Balahna-Pravdinsk urban agglomeration

Acidity

pH, pH units)

Weighted

substances, g/l

Nitrate nitrogen

Ammonium nitrogen

Tapping

point

–

(

(NO

, mg/l)

(NH

2019

, mg/l)

2020

019

2020

6.65

6.60

6.64

6.29

6.98

6.34

6.83

6.47

6.55

6.86

2019

2020

0.016

0.018

0.024

0.016

0.004

0.012

0.022

0.016

0.064

0.036

2019

2020

6.61

6.77

6.48

6.16

6.06

6.29

6.31

6.42

6.06

6.04

0.019

0.026

0.033

0.018

0.007

0.015

0.029

0.020

0.078

0.047

0.29

0.26

0.24

0.16

0.22

0.11

0.17

0.19

0.26

0.17

0.82

1.05

0.99

0.97

0.88

0.81

0.96

0.63

0.64

0.77

2.15

23.0

1.38

1.88

1.60

0.90

1.52

0.98

1.40

2.53

3.18

2.05

1.81

1.47

2.10

1.27

1.86

1.60

2.10

2.16

MPC*

6.5-8.5

–

1.9

— normative values are taken for waters related to water bodies used for drinking water and amenities (GN 2.1.5.1315-03 "Maximum permissible

concentrations (MPC) of chemicals in the water of water bodies used for drinking water and amenities")

Table 2: The content of chemicals in the water of snow masses accumulated within the sanitary protection zone of the Nizhny Novgorod

industrial enterprise

Snow tapping points

Indicator

pH, pH units

Suspended solids,

mg/l

7.12

6.96

6.91

6.81

6.83

6.87

6.93

6.12

.0022

0.0138

0.0075

0.0010

0.0054

0.0100

0.0064

0.0060

HCO

^–, mg / l

39.6

6.5

35.2

5.5

22.0

5.0

17.6

5.2

26.4

4.3

17.6

6.1

22.0

5.0

13.2

0.5

–

Cl , mg/l

–

, mg/l

C* – control

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2020, Volume 8, Issue 4, Pages: 1429-1433

The tapping and analysis of the sample at the control point

showed a lower pH value in comparison with the samples from

the study area (Table 2). The content of dust particles, in

general, turned out to be at the minimum level and most tapping

points, below the control level. An exception was shown by

samples from points 2 and 6, where the detected dust

accumulation was higher than the rest.

forms of nitrogen and hydrocarbonates. It should be emphasized

that environmental studies of snow deposits from industrial

areas, on the one hand, allow us to identify trends in the level of

pollution of the local atmosphere. On the other hand, to confirm

these findings and acquire a full understanding of the quality and

ecological state of atmospheric air, annual long-term research on

the indicator dynamics is required.

Atmospheric pollution with carbon oxides, estimated based

on the indicator of the content of bicarbonate anion in the water

of the snow, had some trends in the distribution: its highest

concentrations were found in the snow accumulated in the

western and northwestern directions, which could be due to with

the wind pattern of the city territory. Air pollution with chlorine-

containing substances, estimated based on the chloride anion

content in snow samples, did not have clear distributions in the

prevalent wind directions. However, as such, it attracts attention,

since it is known that the background level of chlorine content in

the atmosphere is quite low. A tendency in the accumulation of

sulfates in the snow masses, which indicates the content of

sulfur oxides in the atmospheric air, was observed in a similar

way to the content of hydrocarbonates. There was also a certain

tendency for the concentration of sulfate anions in the snow to

increase from the northwestern and northern directions.

Ethical issue

Authors are aware of, and comply with, best practice in

publication ethics specifically with regard to authorship

(avoidance of guest authorship), dual submission, manipulation

of figures, competing interests and compliance with policies on

research ethics. Authors adhere to publication requirements that

submitted work is original and has not been published elsewhere

in any language.

Competing interests

The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest that

would prejudice the impartiality of this scientific work.

Authors’ contribution

All authors contributed to data collection, study design, data

analysis, interpretation, and writing of this article.

Discussion

Nizhny Novgorod and the adjacent territories of its

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