The characteristics of pollution in the big industrial cities of Kazakhstan by the example of Almaty

Abstract

Background Environmental pollution is a problem in the most industrial cities, including Almaty. These cities are frequently overpopulated and hazardous industrial facilities often have a negative impact on public health. The purpose of this study was to determine the characteristics of pollution in Almaty city and assess possible impact on a human by comparing obtained results with sanitary and hygienic standards. (Hygienic standards (HS) 2.1.7.2042-06. AAC of chemical substances in soil Russia). We used both local standards, such as ST RK 2011-2010 "Water, Food, Stern and Tobacco Products. Determination of Chlororganic Pesticides" and International Standards (Customs Union) Sanitary Regulations and Norms number 4630-88. Methods The study was conducted by sampling air, water, and soil and subsequently analyzing them via laboratory and instrumental methods. Results Heavy metals were detected via a high-precision method of atomic absorption spectroscopy. Noise was measured on location. Geographic regions with characteristic types of pollution were discovered. It was found that the main polluting factors were as follows: air pollution -carbon monoxide, suspended solids in the form of dust, lead, and noise; water -ammonium compounds, organic substances (assessed based on the chemical oxygen demand (COD) parameter), polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB); soil -lead and PCB. The amount of suspended solids in the air exceeded standard levels by as much as 13.6 times. Conclusions We visualized obtained data (using StatSoft Statistica v6.0 Rus and Exhibit 3.0 (MIT Simile Project) Softwares) for three districts of Almaty, which allowed us to compare the results efficiently. The results show the need for a detailed study on the optimization of the state of the environment and public health. Plans for further studies include development of a system that would enable reducing the negative impact of industrial facilities on public health and the environment in general.

A Synoptic- and Remote Sensing-based Analysis of a Severe Dust Storm Event over Central Asia

“…The 4 th November severe dust storm over south-eastern Kazakhstan that affected a large area in CA, was a unique and rare phenomenon, in terms of its intensity, that happened in an area vulnerable to dust emissions and with continuous soil degradation during recent decades due to ongoing human interventions (Aiman et al, 2018;Baubekova et al, 2021;Guney et al, 2020;Kismelyeva et al, 2021;Ramazanova et al, 2021). Apart from the high PM concentrations during dust storms, potentially toxic elements (PTEs) as soil contaminants transported by dust may add more health and ecological concerns over the CA region.…”

Analysis of new state documents on environmental awareness aspects in Kazakhstan

“…While the city of Karaganda is known for its coal industrial complexes, Temirtau is known for harboring chemical and metallurgical industries [14]. The release of harmful chemical substances from industrial companies have all been highlighted by various local scholars, such as by Shakhova et al [16], Aiman et al [17], Alimbaev et al [18] or Assanov et al [19]. Other more famously known en- [19].…”

A New Approach to Solving the Problem of Atmospheric Air Pollution in the Industrial City

“…Nowadays, the environmental monitoring problems have received considerable attention due to the high level of atmospheric air pollution in industrial cities of many countries [1][2][3][4][5][6]. For the effective operation of the existing information system for monitoring the atmosphere for pollution by heavy metals, it has become essential to use mathematical modeling based on the data assimilation algorithm.…”