Despite the current programmes intended to cut discharges of
pollutants, the condition of the Neva remains grave, while the
level of pollution over the last years has kept growing.
In autumn 2006 and spring 2007, Greenpeace organized an
inspection of discharges along the banks of the Neva. Activists
identified more than 200 polluted sewage discharges. Tests of water
samples taken near one of the sewers on the Vyborgskaya embankment
showed an excess of copper and manganese concentration in water by
73 and 26 times the maximum permissible level, respectively.
According to the Greenpeace study, samples of fish from the Neva
contained high concentrations of arsenic and polychlorbiphenyl
(PCB), which are among the 12 most persistent organic pollutants
(POPs). In all samples of fish, the concentration of PCB exceeded
the allowed EU standards for food products. If such fish were
caught in the territory of the European Union, they would be banned
for sale. However, the smelt coming to the Neva for spawning are
much less polluted with PCB.
"Unfortunately, Russian standards are insufficient to evaluate
the real scale of fish pollution with polychlorbiphenyls. The
current maximum permissible concentrations are too high, and they
don't take into consideration the toxic capacity of some PCBs",
said Alexey Kiselev, toxic campaigner of Greenpeace Russia.
According to official reports of the St. Petersburg
administration, in 2006 40 percent of all polluted sewage was
discharged without treatment into the Neva, its tributaries and
Nevskaya Guba (eastern part of the Gulf of Finland). This is the
highest rate at any time over the last 15 years. "While the
increase in discharges of domestic sewage can be explained by
reconstruction of the water supply and drainage systems, a similar
situation with industrial discharges is, at least, surprising",
says Dmitry Artamonov, head of the St. Petersburg branch of
Greenpeace. "Since 2000, the volume of polluted water discharged by
industrial enterprises has been growing annually. Discharges of
untreated sewage violate the law, and the polluting processes must
be phased out until treatment facilities are put into
operation.
Within the borders of St. Petersburg there are 375 places of
direct discharges of untreated sewage and more than 1000 storm
water sewers. Most of them are located on the Neva tributaries,
Okhta being the most polluted.
Another problem is transportation of oil products on the Neva.
There are more than 2 thousand tankers and barges on the Neva daily
transporting more than 4 million tons of oil. A large scale
accident can leave the city without drinking water and cause
irreparable damage to the Neva ecosystem.
To promote solutions, Greenpeace plans to carry out independent
research into the quality of water in the river and in discharges
of plants and to raise city dwellers' awareness of the issue. Soon,
Greenpeace will launch a boat on the Neva to monitor emergency
discharges, most of which have so far gone unpunished.
Greenpeace also calls on all residents of the St. Petersburg and
Leningrad region to sign an appeal to the governors of the city and
the region with the demand to provide the complete treatment of all
sewage by 2010, to organize comprehensive environmental monitoring
and to stop the transportation of oil on the Neva.
Further information about the project will be available at www.saveneva.ru
Notes for editor:
According to directive ЕС № 1881/2006, when defining admissible
levels of dioxins and similar PCB in food, the toxic capacity of
each chemical is considered to evaluate the overall toxic level.
When the fish samples from Neva were tested, the researchers only
analyzed the PCBs whose concentration exceeded the minimum
detection level. Dioxins were not considered because such analysis
is expensive. However, even this incomplete list of chemicals
analyzed showed a concentration that is 1,3 times the permissible
level. Russian standards were set for the concentration of PCBs all
together, though the toxic capacity may differ by a factor of 100
for various chemicals of this group. Such an approach cannot be
used to evaluate food risks to human health.
In biological terms, polychlorbiphenyls are one of the most
poisonous organochloride chemicals, and they hardly ever break down
in the environment. In all, there are more than 200 chemical
compounds with different toxic levels. PCBs have the same toxic
qualities as dioxins. They also affect the human body in a similar
way - they are strong carcinogens, and they accumulate in the body,
affecting the immune, reproductive and endocrine systems.