monitoring of water wells in pravdinsk municipality of the ... · about 3000 cases of children...

Monitoring of water wells

in Pravdinsk municipality of

the Kaliningrad Region

Dmitry Filippenko, PhD

BBNP Programme Assistant

dmiphi@gmail.com

* Pollution sources of underground water

*

Pollution of water with nitrates is one of the problems for the population using inadequately equipped wells fed by the groundwater for water supply.

Nearly 44% of rural population using water wells

(decentralized sources of water supply). At the same time, in

19-25% of samples taken from such sources, the content of

nitrates two times exceeds the maximum permissible

concentrations.

Well water supply remains one of the important sources of

drinking water for the rural population, which indicates the

importance of its quality.

*

About 3000 cases of children poisoning with nitrates after drinking well water have been described.

Mechanism of toxic effect: in the digestive tract, nitrates are converted into nitrites, which are 10 times more toxic..

They interact with the blood protein - hemoglobin (responsible for the transfer of oxygen), turning it into methemoglobin (not able to carry oxygen). This causes severe hypoxia (oxygen starvation), destruction of erythrocytes (hemolytic anemia). In turn, this leads to a disruption in the functions of enzyme systems, affects the central nervous, cardiovascular and endocrine systems, metabolism, impairs immune status, reduces the body's resistance to carcinogenic, mutagenic and other factors.

* Water wells in Pravdinsk municipality⃰Light blue – inspected water wells; Dark blue- uninspected water wells

рН value doesn’t exceed the norm in all 17 examined water wells.

*Number of wells by water colour, smell and pH

0

5

10

0 1-2 3 4

No o

f w

ells

Smell (points)

0

5

10

0° 20° 30°No o

f w

ells

Цветность

1 - Zaitsevo; 2 - Pravdinsk, Kutuzov St. - 62; 3 – Pravdinsk, Zarechnaya

St. 4 - Porechye, farm; 5 - Pchelino, farm; 6 - Sevskoye, Tsentralnaya

St.; 7 – Sevskoye, Gornaya St.; 8 – Zelentsovo, farm.

*Wells with nitrate content

exceeding the maximum permissible value

*Seasonal change of nitrate content in water wells

(winter, spring, summer, autumn)

*Sources of pollution

Zelentsovo farm Pchelino village Sevskoye village

Pravdinsk, Zarechnaya St. Zaitsevo village

*