Determination of main anthropogenic impacts and environmental risks for the Kryvyi Torets river basin (based on the EU Support Program for Ukrainian water policy)

Abstract

The relevance of the study consists in the need for implementation of the calculation methods proposed by the EU Water Framework Directive. The methods are aimed at assessing the anthropogenic impacts аnd establishing the risks of not achieving the environmental objectives for different water bodies. The object of the study is the Kryvyi Torets River, one of the most polluted rivers in Ukraine. The study focuses on the indicators of anthropogenic impact affecting the quality of the river's surface waters and the identification of the risks of not ensuring a good ecological status of its basin.
 The work aims at determining the main anthropogenic impacts and their effects on the surface water status of the SWM of the Kryvyi Torets River in town of Druzhkivka and assessing the risk of failure to achieve the environmental objectives. For this purpose we used the data of hydrochemical observations up to 2018 inclusive which were compared with the established threshold values of the anthropogenic impacts. According to the Order of the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of Ukraine No. 4 as of January 14, 2019, the monitoring point of the Kryvyi Torets River – town of Druzhkivka – belongs to a "heavily modified" surface water massif. In accordance with the hydromorphological monitoring effort for the Don RBD (river basin district) and the assessment of hydromorphological indicators within the framework of the project "Assistance in expanding the environmental monitoring system in the Donbas" implemented by the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine the research allowed establishing the fact that the SWM of the Kryvyi Torets River is referred to as “a heavily modified” due to large-scale channelization activities. Based on the "Guidelines for determining the main anthropogenic impacts and their effects on the state of surface waters" the proposed study allowed evaluation of the anthropogenic impacts from the point sources (wastewater discharges) and diffuse sources (crop production and livestock farming). It was established that there is no environmental risk resulting from the volume of wastewater inflow to the annual runoff of the Kryvyi Torets River. However, a risk of failure to ensure a good environmental status was found in relation to the volume of wastewater inflow from point sources and the influence of crop production and livestock farming. According to chemical and physico-chemical indicators, a risk of not achieving environmental objectives was determined. According to chemical and physicochemical parameters, exceeding the limit values is set for ammonium. Identification of the environmental risk zones and percentiles was performed using the integrated curves of hydrochemical indicators distribution for the section of the Kryvyi Torets River at town of Druzhkivka.
 The largest values of anthropogenic impact correspond to wastewater discharge (Point Source Pollution) and livestock farming (Diffuse Source Pollution).