City Snow Dumps of a Large Industrial Centre as a Source of Surface Water Pollution (on the Example of Ufa City)

Every year a seasonable snow cover is formed in Russia. The accumulation of snow in urban areas creates the problem of clearing and storage of large amounts of snow. When the snow melts, the entire mass of contaminated substances together with the land runoff enters the surface water bodies. This is the issue of the day for the city of Ufa.

The article deals with the problem of environmental pollution resulting from the storage of large amounts of snow masses scavenged from the territory of Ufa every year. The sampling technique was to mark out the sample area 10 × 10 size from which snow was collected using the envelope method. The snow collected at five points of the sampling area was used to form a composite sample. This sample was used to test for the presence of organic compounds of different classes, volatile chlorinated hydrocarbons, benzapyrene, petroleum products, heavy metals, and inorganic anions. According to the results of the study of snow dumps in Ufa in the years 1998, 2011, 2013 and 2015 it was found that snow masses taken out from the territory of the city of Ufa and stored in unauthorized dumping grounds are characterized by the excess of almost all controlled substances. Snow dumps must be equipped with special treatment facilities, discharges from which to surface water bodies should be controlled.