2025 Ecosystem Transformation 8 (3), 118-137

The environmental assessment of the residential area of the small town based on snow-dirt sludge composition data

Seleznev A.A. , Ivanchukova N.V., Shevchenko A.V., Glukhov V.S.

This paper presents the results of developing an approach to assessing the environmental state of residential areas in towns based on snow-dirt sludge (SDS) composition data. The study was conducted on the example of small and medium-sized towns of the Sverdlovsk region: Alapaevsk, Kachkanar, and Serov. The towns differ in their industrial specialization. The study focuses on dissolved forms of urban pollutants, including Pb, Mn, Ni, Cu, Zn, Co, Cr, and Fe. The total pollution index Zc was calculated for SDS samples. Various approaches to calculate Zc were tested, where the background concentration of an element was taken as: (1) the minimum concentration of the element in undisturbed snow in town, (2) the minimum concentration of the element in SDS in the city, (3) the maximum permissible concentration (MPC) of the element in water, and (3) the concentration of the element in snow at the SDS sampling site. The approach to calculate Zc applying background concentration of the element in snow at the SDS sampling site proved most effective for assessing SDS pollution levels. This method enables to characterize the local natural and anthropogenic processes of migration and accumulation of pollution. The SDS may be used as an independent geochemical indicator of the urban environment. The data obtained significantly enhance the understanding of pollutant migration and accumulation in urban areas.

A. A. Seleznev
Institute of Industrial Ecology, Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Sofya Kovalevskaya St. 20, Ekaterinburg, 620108 Russia

sandrian@rambler.ru

N. V. Ivanchukova
Institute of Industrial Ecology, Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Sofya Kovalevskaya St. 20, Ekaterinburg, 620108 Russia

Ural Federal University named after the First President of Russia B.N. Yeltsin
Mira St. 19, Ekaterinburg, 620062 Russia


A. V. Shevchenko
Institute of Industrial Ecology, Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Sofya Kovalevskaya St. 20, Ekaterinburg, 620108 Russia


V. S. Glukhov
Institute of Industrial Ecology, Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Sofya Kovalevskaya St. 20, Ekaterinburg, 620108 Russia

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