Picture source: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/environmental-pollution/
Introduction:
Human health greatly suffers in large cities; this issue has become one of the main problems in the context of environment and health. It is obvious that air, water, vegetation, soil and even the animals are different in villages. People in the city suffer greatly from the negative effects of emissions, discharges, pollution and waste. At the same time, modern men almost cannot imagine themselves outside large settlements and find their lives in the city more suitable then the bucolic charm of the countryside.
On the one hand, modern Russian cities – place of attraction for the people, and on the other hand, the area of high environmental risk. To overcome, or at least mitigate, this contradiction needs a special way of life organization in the territory of a large settlement that matches the interests of citizens with the possibilities of the natural environment of the city to ensure environmental safety for residents.
City Problems:
Omsk is one of the largest cities in the Asian part of Russia with a population of over 1.5 million people and produces a significant amount of pollutants in the environment. This is mainly because of large industrial clusters around the vicinity of the city as well as traffic, waste and emissions from the buildings.
Industrial enterprises in Omsk developed by giving free land parcels resulted in an abnormal growth of the city. Industrial areas cover the city from the north to the east, eliminating the possibility of development of the city in those areas. Industrial sites, increased during the war between 1941 and 1945 in many places, which were located between several residential zones. Sanitary improvement is required in nearly 40% of the city. Also the interconnection between the residential and industrial zones is a chaos resulting in heavy traffic and increased air pollution. Most of the old low rises buildings still use coal to heat the houses this enhances the city pollution.
Omsk originated and developed at the confluence of two rivers: Om and Irtysh. Irtysh is a trans- boundary river and the only source of water for the city, since groundwater of Omsk is highly mineralized. The main reason for the contamination of Irtysh is the rain water run-off along with the lack of waste water treatment. The river flow is greatly at risk due to the construction of a dam in the neighboring country.
Changes on the structure of city planning have been passed since the integrated assessment of ecological situation in Omsk that showed the critical situation.
For Omsk total air pollution emissions are determined by enterprises, transport and emissions from fuel combustion in the areas of unimproved residential development. State reports allows to point a significant reduction in emissions of the industrial enterprises in recent years, but the number of city transport increases, which leads to an increase in emissions from mobile sources. In addition, it is impossible to estimate emissions from slums, since it is necessary to develop special methods of calculation. As a result, the level of pollution is still high.
The situation with the state of water bodies and, above all, the Irtysh and Om has improved, not only by reducing the amount of relief, but also by reducing the amount of pollutant discharge. However, one must consider the fact that the calculation does not switched river reset to the city, which has no treatment and contributes to water pollution.
On the border of the Omsk region of the Irtysh water comes “dirty.” In the city, water quality improves and goes from class “dirty” to class “very polluted”, but outside the city again becomes “dirty”. This situation explains the process of self-purification of water from the border area to the border of the city and its pollution discharges on the municipal wastewater treatment plants.
However, the volume produced and exported to the municipal solid waste landfill is constantly increasing.
Highlights:
Thus, despite the significant reduction of the impact of industry on the environment of the city of Omsk, the threat of environmental safety is maintained. In order to solve these problems should be carried out a number of arrangements that could improve the overall environmental picture of the city.
Increase green areas and change their composition will improve the air in the city and protect the population from the effects of emissions derived of the industries and motor vehicles. In addition to the environmental impact of parks and squares have aesthetic value, as well as provide a place for relaxation. An important supporting factor for the development of this trend is that the city of Omsk admitted in the 70s of the last century “garden city” and the public appreciated this fact.
General culture and education of citizens – the key factors influencing the attitude towards the environment. Currently, environmental priorities in the minds of the modern citizen are reduced due to the need to solve social and economic problems and the false notion that these problems can be solved at the expense of natural resources. In fact, education, and its enlightenment should be aimed by explaining the impossibility of complete safety without maintaining a healthy environment.
The problem of waste, especially municipal solid waste, is recognized as the basis for any major city. Millions of cubic meters of solid waste generated and the city should be placed in landfills or recycled. To do this, there are methods of recycling and waste recycling technologies. Supporting factor for the solution of this problem is the econ
The environmental system of protection from the modern states does not provide safe placement and operation of the new and threatening settlements. This is due to the fact that environmental “powers” are divided between dozens of government agencies. The interests of the population, which are located directly in the zone of influence of a dangerous settlement, can be presented during the public examination provided by applicable law.
Quality of food affects the health of the population, and therefore, is directly linked to environmental security. For the city of Omsk environmental assessment will form the recommendation to expand the range of organic foods.
Various government agencies observe the state of environment. Nevertheless, the prevailing state system of monitoring the rapid growth number of polluting factors do not allow to monitor a large number of objects and have a full dynamic picture of their condition. The output is seen in the organization of an extensive system of public monitoring and evaluation, which is open to all comers, and first of all, students of educational institutions. The main requirement of any monitoring and evaluation is the comparability of the results of observations and conclusions. In order to ensure this, it is necessary to use a single method of assessing public and create a common database.
The system of state environmental monitoring has the task of overall assessment of the state of nature in Russia and the impact of enterprises – pollutants. Socio-hygienic monitoring aims to assess risks for the health of citizens.
The existing system in Omsk State Environmental Control is the structure on the basis of federal and local laws, even thought does not provide operational control and response to violations of environmental laws, primarily because of its small size. Creating environmental police can increase the number of violations and violators to install, but for this you need to create an additional regulatory framework.
River Irtysh and Om are not only a natural basis for the development of the city, but also bear cult urological value. In addition to these rivers, in Omsk, there are other bodies of water, which traditionally serve as a place of rest for the townspeople. This results in a large amount of debris on the beaches causing water pollution. But clearing and landscaping ponds is necessary not only from an aesthetic point view. The state of the rivers and lakes depends on environmental safety of the city’s population, and therefore require special protection program reservoirs.
Analysis of the circuit boundaries of sanitary protection zones of Omsk shows that the gaps between the industrial zones and residential areas are not maintained in many cases. Sanitary protection zones are designed to serve residential areas of active protection against the harmful effects of industrial enterprises, and in fact they are located in residential and suburban areas. In Omsk, sanitary protection zones occupy almost 40% of the city and more than 28% of the residential development. The output of this situation has been reflected in the removal of industrial enterprises outside the city, or to develop specific measures aimed to reduce the impact and improvement of sanitary protection zones. The main performers of such works should be polluting enterprises, and the administration of the city of Omsk and the public should monitor this process.
The main source of water pollution is storm water runoff, which in Omsk is not purified. In addition, the city does not have a common system for the collection and disposal of storm water, which does not allow them to organize the cleanup. Thus, the problem of sewage treatment of storm water provides the organization with the opportunity for the construction of special treatment facilities. Both of these problems are really hard to implement at the moment, as they require substantial financial costs. However, it is possible to implement storm water collection and treatment at local territories, gradually developing this system.
The transport system in Omsk includes various types of transport; the main traffic flows are concentrated in the city center (except railway). That made transportation the main source of environmental hazards for the city. Complexity is arising from the necessity to solve this problem, determine the balance of powers of the state, municipal authorities and owners of transport. The analysis of the situation indicates that practically the only possible direction, which can be implemented at the municipal level, is the optimization of the transport system. This concept includes the expansion of the transport system (through the construction of alternate road) traffic intersections without traffic lights, underground and aboveground crossings.
Flooding in the city of Omsk is one of the most serious problems. This requires extensive engineering and technical transformation of the entire infrastructure of the city of Omsk.
Currently, the only source of water for the city of Omsk is the Irtysh River. From the standpoint of the amount of water obtained from Irtish, exists a problem with the projected decline in the level of the river, by reducing the total runoff in dry years, and due to changes in the structure of the channel as a result of dredging. The solution to this problem is the technical reconstruction of the existing municipal water intake. However, the main problem lies on the need to find an alternative source of water supply due to the deterioration of water quality of the Irtysh, up to the level of potentially toxic heavy pollution from the territory of Kazakhstan. For an alternative supply, the groundwater might be used; however, it is highly mineralized, which leads in a considerable expense in the process of purification. Another option is the use of so-called underflow water, but this feature requires a deeper research study.
People understand the extent of the danger posed by the flippant attitude towards the environment. Meanwhile, the solution of global problems such as environmental, require the urgent joint and efforts of international organizations related to energy, states, regions and the public. Certainly the implementation of measures to address the problems requires huge economic costs, but if it continues to delay, this process may become irreversible. And then, it will be mandatory to apply a number of critical measures that affect not only the economy but also on the lives of the citizens as a community.