The rapid development of all sectors of industry, energy, transport, population growth and urbanization, chemicalization of all spheres of human activity have led to certain environmental changes, including unfavorable ones. The impact of harmful substances of anthropogenic origin on the natural environment is becoming global.
Every year natural resources are used more and more intensively for the needs of humanity. This is especially true for water resources, since no sector of the economy can develop without water. Recently, water supply problems have become more acute; under the influence of economic activities, the hydrological regime of natural water bodies and the qualitative composition of the water in them are changing.
The problem of rational use and protection of natural resources from pollution and depletion requires a set of environmental measures and, above all, observations, assessment and forecasting of their condition. An optimal solution to the issues of use and protection of natural resources is possible only if there is objective information about the state of the water quality of water bodies, scientific substantiation of anthropogenic impact on water bodies.
On Sakhalin, environmental monitoring is carried out by a single service - the Sakhalin Territorial Administration for Hydrometeorology and Environmental Monitoring. Control over the state of the natural environment is carried out by the State Environmental Committee for the Sakhalin Region and the Sakhalin Committee of Natural Resources.
Surface waters of watercourses in the Sakhalin region are polluted by wastewater from oil and gas production, pulp and paper, coal, food industries, housing and communal services, agriculture, road transport, housing and civil construction, etc.
Typical indicators of water pollution are oil products, phenols, copper compounds, suspended and organic substances.
The main reasons for the pollution of water bodies are the lack of necessary treatment facilities, the unsatisfactory performance of existing ones, as well as an open oil collection system and oil losses during its transportation.
Enterprises discharge 42,267.4 thousand cubic meters into the water bodies of the Sakhalin region. m/year of wastewater, of which insufficiently treated - 22749.4 thousand cubic meters. m/year, biologically treated - 17152 thousand cubic meters. m/year, standard clean - 2366 thousand cubic meters. m/year 4361.6 thousand cubic meters are dumped onto the terrain. m/year of wastewater.
Recently, there has been an improvement in the environmental situation in our region, but despite this it remains quite unfavorable. The improvement of the environmental situation is not associated with the construction of new treatment facilities, nor with the stability of existing ones, but occurs through conservation, shutdown and closure of enterprises.
Observations of the quality of surface waters are carried out by specialists from the laboratory for monitoring pollution of sea and surface waters of the Environmental Pollution Monitoring Center of the Sakhalin UGMS. Water sampling for hydrochemical analysis is carried out on 41 rivers and one lake at 61 sites at 47 observation points.
A site is a conventional cross-section of a watercourse or reservoir in which a set of works is carried out to obtain hydrochemical data about the water body.
An observation point is a place on a watercourse or reservoir in which a set of works is carried out to obtain hydrochemical data on water quality. Observation points for the water quality of a watercourse are usually organized in areas where cities and towns are located, in places of wastewater discharge, in river mouths, in places of spawning and wintering grounds of valuable and especially valuable species of fish. Observation points are divided into four categories. The frequency of observations of hydrochemical indicators depends on the category of the observation point.
The rivers of the Sakhalin region belong to the second to fourth categories. Only two rivers belong to the second category - the Poronai River and the Susuya River; observations on them are carried out every ten days, monthly and in the main hydrological phases (in winter at the lowest water level, during spring floods, during rain floods and in summer-autumn low water). On rivers of the third category, which include more than half of the rivers, observations are carried out monthly and during the main hydrological phases, while in the fourth category - only during the main hydrological phases.
In our region, 7% of the rivers on which observations are carried out belong to the class of clean waters. These are the Rogatka river, the Komissarovka river and the Arkovo river. But in 1993, cases of high pollution with petroleum products were observed on the Rogatka River; the average annual content of the latter exceeded the maximum permissible concentration (MPC) by 40 times. At this time, logging and construction of the Santa Hotel were underway. And despite the fact that the clean water of the river can become very dirty in an instant due to human negligence, in 1996, due to lack of funding, monitoring of the water quality of the Rogatka River was stopped.
The class of very dirty rivers includes Susuya, Naiba, and Avgustovka.
In the Susuya River, the average annual concentrations of petroleum products almost reach high levels of pollution and are at the level of 8-9 MPC, and the average content of copper compounds exceeds the maximum permissible concentration by 17-18 times. The average values of phenols are 2-3 times higher than the norm. During the spring flood, when there is intense washout from the soil, the concentration of nitrite nitrogen increases to 10-15 MAC, and this is already considered high pollution.
In the Naiba River, the average content of petroleum products exceeds the maximum permissible concentration by 3-5 times, copper compounds reaches the level of 3-10 maximum permissible concentration. Average annual concentrations of phenols are also 1-2 times higher than normal.
In the Augustovka River, cases of high pollution with copper and zinc compounds are observed annually, which is most likely due to the discharge of mine wastewater from the Boshnyakovo mine.
70% of our island's rivers are considered moderately polluted. Statistically, these are good indicators, but in reality this does not mean that the waters of these watercourses are not polluted. During the period of spring floods, when there is intensive snow melting and wash-off from soils, a significant increase in the content of pollutants is observed in rivers during rain floods. It should be noted that in these rivers with moderately polluted water, the average annual concentrations of petroleum products, phenols, and copper compounds exceed the maximum permissible concentration by 1-2 times.
And the most polluted river is about. Sakhalin has remained the Okhinka River for many years. The water of this river belongs to the class of extremely dirty waters. Extremely high pollution with petroleum products is observed here every year. The average annual content of this ingredient exceeds the norm by 100-120 times! The main sources of river pollution with petroleum products are oil and gas production enterprises, which are located along the entire length of the river. In addition, formation water contaminated with oil products enters the Okhinka River. Incoming wastewater from oil refineries is the result of an increased content of phenols in the river water; the average annual values of phenols exceed the maximum permissible concentration by 5 times. In winter, there is a deficiency of dissolved oxygen in the river. The amount of dissolved oxygen decreases to a critical level - 2-3 mg/l.
In almost all rivers where water quality is monitored, the content of petroleum products, phenols, and copper compounds is 1-2 times higher. But it should be remembered that all our rivers are spawning grounds and wintering grounds for valuable and especially valuable fish species. The toxicity of many organic and inorganic substances for fish and invertebrate inhabitants of the aquatic environment is several hundred times higher than for warm-blooded organisms, since polluted water is a habitat for fish. The sensitivity of fish to the odors of many chemicals is several times greater than that of humans. For example, fish are able to detect phenol in water at a concentration of 0.001 mg/l, and some species even at a concentration of 0.0005 mg/l, which is significantly lower than the sensitivity threshold of the human body. When the concentration of petroleum products is 0.01 mg/l, a film is formed on the surface of the water, preventing oxygen saturation and the penetration of microorganisms that decompose many impurities in the process of self-purification of river water. And the cold, microorganism-poor Sakhalin rivers have a relatively low self-purifying ability.
As human influence on the qualitative and quantitative characteristics of river flow and the process of its formation increases, the problems of rational use of water resources, protection from depletion and pollution of rivers, lakes, reservoirs and inland seas become especially acute.
The most active form of protecting water resources from pollution is waste-free production technology, i.e. a set of measures in technological processes that allows to reduce the amount of harmful discharges to a minimum and reduce the impact of waste on water quality to an acceptable level. The range of such events includes:
creation and implementation of new processes for obtaining products with the formation of the least amount of waste;
development of various types of drainless technological systems and water circulation cycles based on wastewater treatment methods;
development of systems for processing industrial waste into secondary material resources;
creation of territorial-industrial complexes with a closed structure of material flows of raw materials and waste within the complex.
Unfortunately, it will still be a long time before waste-free technology is fully implemented. And now we must at least try to improve technological processes and develop equipment with a lower level of discharge of impurities and waste into water bodies, neutralize toxic waste, dispose of the latter, take measures to limit the discharge of municipal wastewater, wastewater from industrial and agricultural production into water bodies .
All these activities require huge capital investments. And in our time, problems related to the protection and protection of the environment fall only on the shoulders of people who are trying to save our nature or at least reduce its “diseases”. And to be honest, what kind of measures to minimize negative environmental consequences can we talk about in our time, when in the last year alone the observation network for the quality of surface waters of land in the Sakhalin region alone has been reduced by 34%, and instead of 41 watercourses, observations are carried out on only 27 rivers
My opinion may seem controversial or incorrect to some, but, as the great French naturalist Jean Baptiste Pierre Antoine Lamarck (1744-1829) said, “perhaps it is better that a newly discovered truth be doomed to a long struggle, without receiving the attention it deserves, than so that any creation of human imagination will meet with a guaranteed favorable reception.”
And I would like to finish my essay with an excerpt from a poem by the Sakhalin poetess L. Vasilyeva, who left Sakhalin Island, but misses him very much:
A valley leads to Snegorye,
River, pebbles, waterfall.
More amazing than Sakhalin
Is it just the Garden of Eden?
Literature
1. A.A.Becker, T.B.Agaev. Protection and control of environmental pollution. Leningrad, Gidrometeoizdat, 1989.
2. Edited by L.V. Brazhnikova. Dynamics and quality of surface waters of the Soviet Union. Leningrad, Gidrometeoizdat, 1988.
3. M.Ya. Lemeshev. Nature and us. Moscow, “Soviet Russia”, 1989.
4. V.G. Orlov. Surface water quality control. Leningrad, Gidrometeoizdat, 1991.
5. Yearbooks of the quality of land surface waters and the effectiveness of water protection measures taken. Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, 1993-97.
The Sakhalin-2 project is a gigantic project on an island with a very vulnerable ecosystem. Therefore, environmentalists began to raise the problem of the significant negative impact of the project on the environment and biological resources of the island long before the start of construction.
The conflict between the Sakhalin Energy company and the country's environmental organizations in 2006 acquired the status of a scandal. Rosprirodnadzor identified a number of violations of environmental legislation in the work of the Sakhalin-2 project operator, Sakhalin Energy, during the construction of pipelines for the project and issued instructions to eliminate them.
The Russian Ministry of Natural Resources was forced to cancel its order No. 600 dated July 15, 2003 “On approval of the conclusion of the expert commission of the state environmental assessment of the materials of the feasibility study for the integrated development of the Piltun-Astokhskoye and Lunskoye license areas.”
Sakhalin Energy presented a schedule for eliminating violations, agreed upon with Gazprom OJSC and approved by the ministry.
In 2006, the public organization "Sakhalin Environmental Watch" prepared a review of identified violations of environmental legislation by Sakhalin Energy. Among them were illegal deforestation during the unauthorized rerouting of the pipeline; illegal placement of treatment facilities in the water protection zone of the Val River; the importation of several thousand tons of a dangerous pesticide - ethylene glycol - to the island without permission from the authorities for its use, including in water protection zones; smuggling of devices with high levels of radiation into Russia (Sakhalin); planned discharge of more than 500,000 m3 of wastewater along the salmon migration routes into Aniva Bay; numerous violations of medical, sanitary and hygienic standards and requirements, labor protection, identified by a comprehensive inspection of federal and regional state supervisory authorities.
According to environmentalists, the development of oil and gas fields on the shelf of northeastern Sakhalin, primarily the Sakhalin-1 and Sakhalin-2 projects, poses a threat to the existence of the Okhotsk-Korean population of gray whales. The population is classified as Category 1 of the Red Book of the Russian Federation and has been assigned endangered status.
Since 2004, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Russia has been conducting research on the impact of offshore oil and gas projects on gray whales. Experts note that for several years, whales have been exposed to noise during platform installation, underwater pipeline construction, seismic surveys and other types of work. Disturbance from the noise produced by oil workers can disrupt the normal feeding rhythm of whales and lead to underfeeding, weakening and, ultimately, death of animals (primarily females and young animals).
Since the death of even one breeding female can, given the current population size, push it towards extinction, collisions with ships servicing oil and gas projects are also very dangerous. In addition, oil spills pose a very serious danger.
In February 2009, the Report of the International Advisory Group on the Conservation of the Okhotsk-Korean Gray Whale Population proposed a moratorium on work on the Sakhalin shelf that could lead to impacts on the western population.
In April 2009, the operator of the Sakhalin-2 project, Sakhalin Energy, decided to postpone seismic surveys in the gray whale habitat for a year.
In April 2008, inspectors from Rosprirodnadzor discovered violations of the requirements of the forestry legislation of the Russian Federation during the construction of the pipeline system as part of the Sakhalin-2 project. Rosprirodnadzor filed a claim with the Arbitration Court of the Sakhalin Region against the project operator, Sakhalin Energy, for compensation for environmental damage in the amount of 390 million 198.646 thousand rubles. In pre-trial proceedings, the defendant did not voluntarily compensate for the damage.
The Sakhalin Arbitration Court held several meetings at which the parties' arguments were heard. At these meetings, Sakhalin Energy presented progress documents on the implementation of its wide-ranging environmental action plan. According to them, the company spent 647 million rubles on the activities included in the plan.
In July 2009, Sakhalin Energy and Rosprirodnadzor entered into a settlement agreement to resolve the claim. The parties decided to recognize the work carried out by the company and include the costs incurred as compensation for damages in the claim of Rosprirodnadzor, and this decision was approved on July 1 by the arbitration court of the Sakhalin region.
In October 2009, the regional public organization "Sakhalin Environmental Watch" sent an appeal to the Rostekhnadzor Office and the Rosprirodnadzor Office for the Sakhalin Region with a request not to accept the main pipelines for the Sakhalin-2 project in connection with numerous violations along the pipeline route associated with the risk oil spills.
From May to September, employees of the "Ecological Watch" and experts from the Far Eastern Geological Institute of the Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences repeatedly examined the pipeline route of the Sakhalin Energy company and identified cases of activation of dangerous geological processes, the cause of which was damaged bank protection.
Studies of the seismic regime carried out by Sakhalin scientists in the northern part of Sakhalin Island and the adjacent shelf for the years 1930-2009 showed that a sharp change in the regime was discovered near the Piltun-Astokhskoye oil and gas condensate field, expressed in the intensification of seismicity since 2005. According to Boris Levin, director of the Institute of Marine Geology and Geophysics (IMGiG) FEB RAS, “the collected facts apparently indicate the occurrence of an induced seismicity effect, apparently caused by the development of the field.”
The material was prepared based on information from RIA Novosti and open sources
Environmental problems of the Sakhalin region
There are problems in human life, the truth of which is not always pleasant to us. And sometimes we don't want to know it. One of these problems is the environment. Let's talk about the Sakhalin region. Do people living here want to know the truth about the problems of our environment?
Each of us, each of those who consider themselves a part of global humanity, is obliged to know what impact our activities have on the world around us and to feel a share of responsibility for certain actions.
From the very beginning of his development, man felt himself to be the master of everything that surrounds him. A well-known proverb says: “Don’t cut the branch you’re sitting on.” One wrong decision and it may take tens, or even hundreds of years to correct the fatal mistake. The natural balance is very fragile. And if you don’t seriously think about your activities, then this very activity will certainly begin to strangle humanity itself. This suffocation has already begun to some extent, and if it is not stopped, it will begin to develop at an incredible speed.
To fight against the negative impact of humans on the environment, it is necessary to find out the impact of human activity on individual sections of nature and develop optimal plans to correct the situation.
The ecological condition of the cities of the Sakhalin region is deteriorating every year. Our city is no exception to this. Examples of this:
The housing and communal services system is almost 80% deteriorated, and there are multiple pipeline breaks.
Imperfection, and sometimes complete absence, of filtration and treatment facilities at the main life-supporting enterprises of the city.
The use of coal as an energy carrier, both in the city boiler house and in the private sector.
In addition, there are many environmental violations, and we have a lot of them on our island:
Poaching of wild animals, pushing many species to the brink of extinction; freshwater and marine fish, causing damage to fisheries.
Forest fires that destroy entire ecosystems and forests.
Infestation of salmon spawning grounds and loss of recreational areas.
Poorly equipped, outdated sewer systems leading to chemical and sewage contamination of rivers and streams, groundwater and soils.
Poorly located garbage dumps, poisoning water bodies, groundwater, soil and air with dioxides.
Increasing pollution with plastic waste and scrap metal, unauthorized landfills in almost all inhabited areas.
Pollution of water bodies due to the general habit of washing cars along the banks of rivers and lakes
Storage facilities for fuels and lubricants that do not meet environmental safety.
Abandoned oil pipeline wells and much more.
A huge amount of work to protect natural ecosystems is carried out by the organization “Ecological Watch of Sakhalin”. This organization was founded in 1995, and in 1997 it was registered and received official legal status.
The main directions of the organization's work are the preservation of forests and increasing environmental safety during exploration and production of oil and gas on the shelf. The Sakhalin region is one of the most developed oil and gas producing regions of the Far Eastern economic region and is one of the oldest in Russia.
In total, 69 hydrocarbon deposits have been discovered in the region, including: 11 oil, 17 gas, 6 gas condensate, 14 gas and oil, 9 oil and gas and 12 oil and gas condensate.
Oil production poses a danger to the environment. And especially oil spills.
Oil and petroleum products are the most common pollutants in the World Ocean. When oil enters the marine environment, it first spreads as a film, forming layers of varying thickness. You can determine its thickness by the color of the film. A film with a power of 30-40 microns completely absorbs infrared radiation, which leads to the death of many living organisms. At the same time, the damage from a spill of only 100 tons of oil can reach millions of dollars, not counting the funds for emergency rescue operations and liquidation of the consequences of the accident. Large masses of oil enter the seas through rivers with domestic and storm drains.
The northeastern shelf of Sakhalin lies at the intersection of salmon spawning migration routes. However, when laying trenches and any excavation work.
Goals of the game:
- draw students' attention to environmental problems and show what they themselves can do to improve the environment;
- identify the environmental problems of the region, the need for collective efforts to prevent environmental disasters and the responsibility of each citizen in relation to the nature of their native land;
- To familiarize students with the environmental situation of the region and city where they live.
Equipment: environmental posters, presentation, interactive whiteboard, business cards.
Roles:
- Leading
- Ecologist
- UNEP expert
- Representative of the Sakhalin Environmental Watch
- Geologist
- Chemist
- Biologist
- Researcher at the regional museum of local lore
- District Civil Defense and Emergency Specialist
- The rest of the students are observers and experts.
Preparatory stage: Students draw posters on environmental issues in advance (the results are summed up at the end of the game).
Progress of the game:
HOW DO WE LIVE IN THE XXI CENTURY? (Annex 1; slide 1)
What have we done in the twentieth century!
What happened to the ecology of the earth.
Forests were burned and rivers were polluted.
We could not have done this.Could not spoil the internal waters,
Man could get along with nature.
They might not have built factories in cities,
But how can we live the coming century?Live without man-made disasters,
And without the risk of dying in the smoke.
With water that is harmless to the body...
Listen, people, to my wordSo that humanity does not die from gases,
To save living things from extinction,
We need to understand one rule.
We need to protect the environment.
Leading: Each of us, each of those who consider themselves a part of global humanity, is obliged to know what impact our activities have on the world around us and to feel a share of responsibility for certain actions.
From the very beginning of his development, man felt himself to be the master of everything that surrounds him. A well-known proverb says: “Don’t cut the branch you’re sitting on.” One wrong decision and it may take tens, or even hundreds of years to correct the fatal mistake. The natural balance is very fragile. And if you don’t seriously think about your activities, then this very activity will certainly begin to strangle humanity itself. This suffocation has already, to some extent, begun, and if it is not stopped, it will immediately begin to develop at an incredible speed.
At our conference today, we gathered to discuss those environmental problems that are relevant for our Sakhalin region, for our island, and therefore for you and me. (slide 2)
But to move on to this discussion, let's figure out what environmental pollution is and what danger it poses to humanity.
Ecologist:
To fight against human influence on the environment, it is necessary to find out the impact of human activity on individual sections of nature and develop optimal plans to correct the situation.
By scale, environmental pollution can be divided into: local, regional and global. (slide 3) These three types of pollution are closely related. Local pollution is primary, and if its speed is higher than natural purification, then it soon turns into a regional and then a global change in the quality of the environment.
The resources of the biosphere for natural self-healing have their limits. At current levels of pollution, harmful substances from the source of pollution spread over tens and hundreds of kilometers.
Modern industrial production has a significant impact on nature. (slide 4) Although most pollutants and thermal energy are generated in a limited area, mainly in industrial areas of North America, Europe and Asia, due to atmospheric circulations and movements of the Earth's water shell, a significant portion of some long-lived pollutants is dispersed over vast areas across the Earth, leading to regional and global pollution.
The scale of anthropogenic impact on the environment and the level of danger resulting from it require fast and effective methods of protection against pollution, forcing the development of technological processes that would not only be economically beneficial, but would also surpass existing ones in terms of environmental cleanliness.
UNEP expert (UN body in the field of ecology):(slide 5)
December 15, 1972 The United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), approved by the UN General Assembly, was adopted. UN experts comprehensively reviewed issues related to the human impact on the environment.
Impact– direct impact of human economic activity on the natural environment. All types of impact can be combined into 4 types: intentional, unintentional, direct and indirect. (slide 6)
Intentional impact occurs in the process of material production in order to satisfy the individual needs of society. These include: mining, construction of reservoirs, irrigation canals, hydroelectric power stations, deforestation to expand the area of agriculture and for timber, etc.
Unintended Impact arises incidentally with the intentional one. For example, during open-pit mining, the groundwater level decreases and man-made landforms (quarries, waste heaps) are formed. When obtaining energy from traditional sources (coal, oil, gas), the atmosphere, surface watercourses, and groundwater are polluted. And this list goes on.
Both intentional and unintentional impacts can be direct and indirect.
Direct impacts occur in the case of direct influence of human economic activity on the environment.
Indirect impacts occur indirectly – through chains of interconnected influences. Thus, the use of fertilizers affects crop yields, and the use of aerosols affects the amount of solar radiation.
Human impact affects not only the state of the atmosphere, hydrosphere and lithosphere, but also the animal world of the Earth, as well as the planet’s climate.
According to UNEP since 1600. 94 species of birds and 63 species of mammals became extinct on Earth. Animals such as the tarpan (slide 7), tur (slide 8), marsupial wolf (slide 9), European ibis (slide 10), etc. have disappeared. The number of animals such as rhinoceros, tiger, cheetah, bison, condor, etc. has decreased alarmingly.
Every year, as a result of human economic activity, the following enters the atmosphere: 190 million tons of sulfur dioxide, 65 million tons of nitrogen oxides, 25.5 million tons of carbon oxides, more than 700 million tons of other dust and gaseous compounds. They have a significant impact on the global climate, causing negative consequences: the greenhouse effect, depletion of the ozone layer, acid rain, photochemical smog, etc.
Such unidirectional activities can lead to colossal destruction in the natural ecosystem, which will lead to high restoration costs.
Leading: Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands are part of the global ecosystem. And we are also not spared from many environmental problems.
Representative of the Sakhalin Environmental Watch(slide 11) : “Sakhalin Ecological Watch” is an independent, non-political regional public organization aimed at protecting the natural ecosystems of Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands. Our organization was founded in 1995, and in 1997 it was registered and received official legal status.
The main directions of our work are forest conservation and increasing environmental safety during exploration and production of oil and gas on the shelf.
In addition, we monitor and try to counteract other environmental violations, and we have a lot of them on our island (slide 12):
- Poaching of wild animals, pushing many species to the brink of extinction; freshwater and marine fish, causing damage to fisheries.
- Forest fires that destroy entire ecosystems and forests.
- Infestation of salmon spawning grounds and loss of recreational areas.
- Poorly equipped, outdated sewer systems leading to chemical and sewage contamination of rivers and streams, groundwater and soils.
- Poorly located garbage dumps, poisoning water bodies, groundwater, soil and air with dioxins.
- Increasing pollution with plastic waste and scrap metal, unauthorized landfills in almost all inhabited areas.
- Pollution of water bodies due to the general habit of washing cars along the banks of rivers and lakes
- Storage facilities for fuels and lubricants that do not meet environmental safety.
- Abandoned oil pipeline wells and much more.
Ignoring all these facts can plunge Sakhalin into a deep abyss and deprive it of prospects for improving the situation. After all, the main thing is to build a society that prospers economically, socially and environmentally.
Leading: As it became clear from the speech of the representative of the “Environmental Watch”, one of the main activities of the organization is environmental safety during the exploration and production of oil and gas on the island’s shelf. The next speaker will tell us how this industry developed on Sakhalin.
Geologist(slide 13): The Sakhalin region is one of the most developed oil and gas producing regions of the Far Eastern economic region and is one of the oldest in Russia.
In total, 69 hydrocarbon deposits have been discovered in the region, including:
11 oil, 17 gas, 6 gas condensate, 14 gas oil, 9 oil and gas and 12 oil and gas condensate.
For the first time, centralized production of raw materials began in 1923, after the Okha oil field was put into development. Already in 1925, the annual oil production from the field amounted to about 20,000 tons.
Currently, the island's shelf is the most studied area of the Far Eastern seas. Total gas reserves are about 1.2 trillion cubic meters, oil – 394.4 million tons, condensate – 88.5 million tons.
The development and development of offshore projects continues, and in connection with this, the need to solve a number of critical environmental problems increases (slide 14):
- Application of the most advanced and effective technologies of international level
- Creation of reliable services for the prevention and response to oil spill emergencies.
- Finding optimal ways to dispose of drilling and construction waste
- Training.
- Organization of environmental control and monitoring services at all levels.
- Finding a reasonable balance between oil and gas production and the preservation of the unique island ecosystem, fish and other marine biological resources.
Leading: What danger does oil production pose to the environment? And especially oil spills?
Chemist:(slide 15) Oil and petroleum products are the most common pollutants in the World Ocean. When oil enters the marine environment, it first spreads as a film, forming layers of varying thickness. You can determine its thickness by the color of the film. A film with a power of 30-40 microns completely absorbs infrared radiation, which leads to the death of many living organisms.
From an environmental perspective, it is important to distinguish between 2 main types of oil spills. One of them involves spills that begin and end on the high seas. Their consequences are temporary and quickly reversible. Another and most dangerous type of spill is when an oil slick washes ashore and causes long-term environmental damage in the coastal zone and littoral zone.
Depending on the duration and scale of pollution, a wide range of damaging effects can be observed: from behavioral anomalies and death of organisms in the initial stages of a spill, to structural and functional changes in populations and communities due to chemical exposure in the littoral zone. (slide 16) (slide 17)
At the same time, the damage from a spill of only 100 tons of oil can reach millions of dollars, not counting the funds for emergency rescue operations and liquidation of the consequences of the accident.
Modeling and analysis of emergency situations for the eastern shelf of Sakhalin show that under the most pessimistic scenarios, the extent of poly-oil pollution of the sea surface will be tens and hundreds of kilometers.
Large masses of oil enter the seas through rivers with domestic and storm drains.
In addition to petroleum products, other products of human economic activity contribute to environmental pollution of the World Ocean. The most dangerous of them in terms of toxicological effects: pesticides (a group of artificially created substances that are used to combat pests and plant diseases), synthetic surfactants (substances that reduce the surface tension of water), carcinogens (chemical compounds that can cause cancer and mutation processes in living organisms), heavy metals (mercury, lead, cadmium, zinc, copper, arsenic), as well as various wastes dumped into the sea for disposal.
Leading: Long before large-scale work on shelf projects began in our region, state authorities of the country and region analyzed and took into account the most complex environmental, ice, seismological and meteorological conditions of our northern regions.
Currently, the regional administration, its environmental authorities, the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Energy of the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Natural Resources of the Russian Federation, together with operator companies, are developing issues of environmental safety.
Since 2004 Russian scientists, together with colleagues from other international environmental organizations, are conducting environmental and bioacoustic monitoring of the shelf project area.
Biologist:
The northeastern shelf of Sakhalin lies at the intersection of salmon spawning migration routes. However, when laying trenches and any excavation work, a suspension of mineral substances is formed, covering the spawning areas with a muddy layer, which either makes it difficult for salmon to spawn, or the fish move to other, environmentally friendly rivers.
There are 108 species of marine fish found in the project development area, and the Sea of Okhotsk accounts for 70% of all fish caught in Russia. The northern part of the Strait of Tartary, in the area of potential impact of the project, contains the largest pollock spawning area in the Sea of Japan.
The project area is home to 10 species of whales, 4 in the Red Book of the Russian Federation, the remaining 6 in the Red Book of the Sakhalin Region. A special place in this regard is occupied by the problem of whales of the Okhotsk-Korean population. (slide 18) The International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources has classified them as a critically endangered species. Gray whales of the Okhotsk-Korean population were considered extinct and were only rediscovered about a quarter of a century ago. At this time, there are about 100 individuals, of which only 23 are females capable of bearing offspring. (slide 19) Since 2000 The Russian-American scientific expedition is conducting a project on the so-called photo identification of the Sea of Okhotsk gray whales. Each of them has its own unique skin pattern, by which the animal can be accurately identified. Over the years of work, the scientific team has compiled a unique catalog of a total of more than 130 whales, many of them even given names. For various reasons, natural and man-made, not all recorded whales have survived to date.
March 30, 2005 Under pressure from a coalition of environmental organizations, the transnational company operator of the Sakhalin-2 project announced a shift in the route of the offshore oil pipeline from the Piltun area 20 km south of the original route. Such changes will reduce the anthropogenic impact on the Sea of Okhotsk population of gray whales. (slide 20) However, this is not enough. A big risk is associated with the location of the platform in close proximity to their feeding areas.
The shelf project area is home to 34 species of birds listed in the Red Books, incl. Steller's sea eagle, Okhotsk snail (slide 21), Sakhalin dunlin, long-billed murrelet, Kamchatka (Aleutian) tern (slide 22) are the most vulnerable species that do not tolerate disturbance. Moreover, Chaivo and Piltun bays are the most important nesting sites, which is extremely important for the reproduction of populations.
Leading: To draw up a scientific forecast of changes in the natural environment in the future, to assess the impact of various forms of human activity on natural complexes and to find methods for the most rational exploitation of natural resources, protected areas acquire exceptional importance. There is an obvious need to have standards of all major ecosystems and, therefore, to improve and expand the conservation network. A researcher at the regional museum of local lore will tell us what has been done in this direction in our Sakhalin region.
Researcher at the regional museum of local lore: Currently, specially protected areas such as nature reserves, wildlife sanctuaries, natural parks and natural monuments have been created in the Sakhalin region. (slide 23)
Nature reserves are examples of untouched, wild nature - rightly called natural laboratories. They are completely excluded from economic activity and are protected by law. In our region, 2 reserves were created: in 1984. "Kurilsky" and in 1987. "Poronaisky".
Also on the territory of the region a park of regional significance “Moneron Island” was created. It is characterized by pronounced landscape features and is subject to special protection, while it is accessible to tourists and vacationers.
There are 48 natural monuments of regional and local significance on Sakhalin. These are natural objects that have scientific, historical, ecological, cultural and relict significance, which are also removed from economic activity. These include: Lake Tunaicha, Bear Waterfall, Wrangel Islands, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsky mud volcano, Mendeleev Volcano, Busse Lagoon, Daginsky thermal springs, Novoaleksandrovsky relic forest, Aniva grove of white acacia, Tomarinsky forest, Lake Izmenchivoe and many others.
Also, specially protected areas in which certain forms of economic activity are prohibited in order to preserve individual biological species or biogeocenosis as a whole are nature reserves. In our region there are 13 of them: 1 federal significance reserve “Little Kuriles”, one biological, complex and scientific reserve each, and 9 hunting reserves, including the “Alexandrovsky” reserve.
Leading: Our region and our city are also part of the global ecosystem.
Civil Defense and Emergency Specialist of the Aleksandrovsk-Sakhalin region: The ecological condition of Russian cities is deteriorating every year. Our city is no exception to this. There are several reasons for this:
- The housing and communal services system is almost 80% deteriorated, and there are multiple pipeline breaks.
- Growth in the number of motor vehicles per capita.
- Imperfection, and sometimes complete absence, of filtration and treatment facilities at the main life-supporting enterprises of the city.
- The use of coal as an energy carrier, both in the city boiler house and in the private sector.
- Untimely removal of waste from courtyard areas
- Complete absence of asphalt city surface
- A long-term freeze in the construction of housing stock, which in turn leads to an increase in the number of dilapidated and dilapidated housing.
This list can be continued for a very long time.
The environmental situation in the city began to be influenced by offshore projects unfolding on the island. Thus, according to the State Sanitary and Epidemiological Supervision Service, in 2007, in the coastal strip of the city of Aleksandrovsk-Sakhalinsky, the content of petroleum products increased by almost 30%. Pollution of coastal waters persisted throughout the observation period along the entire coast. In addition to petroleum products, pollutants such as mineral phosphorus, nitrates, and salts of heavy metals were found in water samples, the content of which exceeded the maximum permissible concentration.
The city administration and various services are making a lot of efforts to improve the environmental situation, however, the budget deficit, imperfection and lack of modernity of the technologies used do not allow achieving the desired result.
Landscaping of parks, squares and streets plays an important role for the city. Trees clean the air of dust, harmful gases, soot, and protect from noise. Many coniferous trees secrete phytoncides that kill pathogens. The dust content in the air on a green street is 3 times less than on a street without trees.
Our schoolchildren provide great assistance in greening the city, working as part of work teams during the summer holidays.
Leading: We cannot remain indifferent to what is happening in our city, this is our land, our home.
(slide 24) (slide 25)
Students are invited to break into groups and make their own specific proposals to improve the environmental situation in the city (create mini-projects).
At the end, projects are defended (1 representative from the group). The results of the environmental poster competition are summed up.
