Combined heat and power plant (CHP) are sources of environmental pollution and therefore requires continuous control of the flow of pollutants which are generated during their work. One of the leading CHP in the city of Kirov (Kirov region, Russia) is a CHP-5 located in the South-Western outskirts of the city. The aim of the study was to assess the degree of anthropogenic load and the territorial focus of the impact of CHP-5 on the natural environment according to the results of chemical analysis of snow. As indicators of contamination used in the mass concentration of ions of sodium, ammonium, potassium, magnesium, calcium, strontium, zinc, cadmium, lead, copper, fluoride-, chloride-, nitrate-, phosphate- and sulfate-ions; the concentration of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) in solid phase of snow water, acidity and electrical conductivity. It was found that the samples of snow water in areas near CHP-5 had a content of inorganic ions and PAHs exceeding the background values. The higher content of ions and heavy metals (HM) differed from forest sites in comparison with meadow. The highest concentrations of sodium, ammonium, potassium, calcium, magnesium ions, more alkaline reaction of the medium are determined in the snow water of the leeward areas of CHP-5. In comparison with background sites, the highest content of HM ions in snow water was found in samples from sites in the South-West direction from the CHP near the place of storage and transportation of coal. The most polluted PAHs are the areas located on the leeward side of the CHP and near the Sovietsky tract. The carcinogenic activity of PAHs in the solid phase of snow water is quite high and varies from 6.79 to 9.71 µg/dm3. Maximum electrical conductivity, high concentrations of potassium, calcium, copper, lead, zinc, chloride, nitrate, sulfate ions, increased content of pyrene relative to background, benz[b]fluoranthene, benzo[a]pyrene and benzo[g,h,i]perylene is set for the forest area (4-S-W), located in the south-western direction from the CHP, in the immediate vicinity of storage and transportation of coal. This site is the most polluted of all investigated, the degree of its pollution can be characterized as an average.
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