Current state of the ecosystem of the reservoir cooler (on the example of the Surgut Power Station)

Abstract

Rapid development of an oil and gas industry in the north of Western Siberia in the middle of the 20th century has demanded a significant amount of the electric power. This strategic task was carried out step by step in the neighborhood of Surgut (the largest oil and gas industry center on the Middle Priobye). Two gas-fired power stations have been consistently constructed. The integrated reservoir cooler has been built on the river Chernaya for cooling of circulating water in the system of reverse water supply of power plants. The article presents the assessment of consequences of flooding at construction of the Surgut reservoir. The total area of the water area of a reservoir is 2211 hectares, including 50% of forest, 20% of meadow, 5% of peat bog communities were under flooding. The authors of the paper develop the basic ecological map of the reservoir and neighborhood with the indication of natural and technogenic objects. Moreover they give the results of two years' monitoring of microbial community structure in the coastal zone of the reservoir cooler. They find it is important to provide the assessment of intensity of self-cleaning processes of the water object and analyze the sources of anthropogenic load on the water object. The microbiological methods which important to use for bio indication of an ecological condition of the Surgut reservoir have allowed to estimate the trophic status, to reveal ecologically unsuccessful sites of the water area, and to define intensity of self-cleaning processes in the water body.