APPROACHES TO EXAMINING OF OBJECTS OF ACCUMULATED ENVIRONMENTAL DAMAGE

Abstract

The elimination of objects of accumulated harm to the environment is recognized as a state priority task. The multicomponent, heterogeneous and unknown composition of the disposed waste makes it difficult examine it. The main factors influencing the condition of the objects are the composition and properties of the disposed waste, the natural and climatic conditions of the area, and the time spent in the open air. A prerequisite for the implementation of works associated with the liquidation of such objects is research and engineering surveys carried out for comprehensive characterization of the composition and properties of waste and for ensuring the environmental safety of the objects. Research methods include full-scale (field) surveys of the location of objects and adjacent areas, sample collection and chemical analysis, and bioassays. It is acknowledged that the ecotoxicological assessment of waste samples with biotests using living organisms of different levels of organization must provide for assessing the degree of negative impacts of waste on the environment and for determine the hazard class of waste in order to develop measures for optimization of technogenic landscapes. Using waste disposed at landfills in the north-west of the Russian Federation as an example, an analysis of the environmental situation and the chemical properties of waste was carried out. Under washing water conditions, contaminants in landfill bodies were a source of increasing environmental hazard for many years. Even after the closure of landfills (conservation/recultivation), these objects may pose a significant potential threat because of the high migration potential of pollutants and gas formation in an object body during the decomposition of individual waste components. The inexpediency of the economic use of such territories in the first years after the end of waste storage is shown.