The assessment of the snow cover contamination in Krasnoyarsk city

The research results on the contamination of Krasnoyarsk administrative districts by non-volatile soluble and nitrogen-containing substances, fluorides contained in snow are presented. The assessment of the phyto- toxicity and zoo-toxicity of the snow water of the studied areas is conducted. Snow cover accumulates the con- taminants over a definite period of time and releases them into the environment in spring snowmelt. The contam- inants travel to a considerable distance from the place of precipitation with the meltwater. The priority methods of ecological control at the present time are biological methods, including methods of biotesting. The seeds of the lettuce sort “Early” and the radish sort “Spring” sown first and experiencing maximum load when exposed to toxic substance influence during snowmelt were used as the phyto-test objects. The single-celled organism - ciliate Paramecium caudatum Ehrbg was used as the zoo-test object. The analysis of the snow water physical- chemical indicators showed that their content does not exceed the MPC (maximum permissible concentration) in all samples of snow in Krasnoyarsk; the exception is the fluoride, the content of which in Krasnoyarsk city ex- ceeds MPC in Sovetskiy district. The maximum energy of the lettuce and radish seed germination and the in- crease in the seedling length in the sample of meltwater is observed for research areas in the Oktyabrskiy district (Akademgorodok and Vetluzhanka), and the minimum for Sovetskiy district (Pokrovka) and Sverdlovskiy dis- trict (Krasfarma). In zoo-testing the 5 and 30-minute experiments of the snow samples in the researched areas by the reaction of the survival of the ciliate Paramecium caudatum are assessed as permissible and moderate and were characterized as non-toxic. After 60 minutes of experiment the data have the reliability of differences by Student’s criterion (p