Margarita P. Ratanova, B.A. Berezin, Ludmila I. Kolbeneva, Alevtina I. Shkirina
Margarita P. Ratanova,
Department of Geography, Moscow State University
121059 Moscow, Naberejnaya Tarasa Shevchenko 1/2 - 85
RUSSIA
TEL: (095) 243-77-49
FAX: (095) 932-88-36
Ludmila I. Kolbeneva,
World Laboratory in Russia
125183 Moscow, pr.Cherepanovykh, 72-27
RUSSIA
TEL: (095) 482-83-22
Anna I. Shkirina
Department of Geography, Moscow State University
Moscow 127434, ul.Dubki, 4a, ap.98
RUSSIA
TEL: (095) 939-50-44
FAX: (095) 932-88-36
The ecological situation in the cities of Russia is rather uneven. It is very important to be able to evaluate the level of danger for human health connected with industrial pollution. Our research allows us to arrange about 200 cities of Russia by the level of such ecological danger. The presence of highly toxic substances (1 and 2 classes of danger) in atmosphere, soils, and waters in their complex was taken as the basis for evaluating the level of ecological danger. Data collected by ecological monitoring of the urban territories made it possible to calculate these indicators for the period 1979-1990. A map of different types of ecological danger for human health in Russian cities was created with a scale 1:8 000 000.
The final ranking of cities was made with the help of mark evaluation method. Four main groups of cities were singled out: 1) very high level of ecological danger for human health; 2) high; 3) medium; and 4) insignificant level. The first group is comprised of 24 cities. There are two metropolitan centers with population in multiple millions - Moscow and St-Petersburg; Kuzbass cities (Kemerovo, Novokuznetsk); centers of metallurgy with a complete production cycle (Magnitogorsk, Cherepovets, Nizhniy Tagil, Chelyabinsk); and centers of oil refinery and petrochemistry (Ufa, Angarsk, Dzerzhinsk).
For the cities with a high level of ecological danger the presence of dozens of different high-toxic elements in water, atmosphere and soils is typical. In many cases the concentration of these elements in the environment is much greater than normal. The presence of highly-toxic elements in the environment of these cities is in charge of increasing the probability of large group of human hazards: oncological diseases, congenital deformity, respiratory diseases, ventricle diseases, liver diseases and diseases of endocrine, nervous and vascular systems.
Translated by Natalia Mirovitskaya
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