Environmentalists are finding out the reasons for the change in the color of water in the Volga
Today, inspectors of the Central Territorial Department of the Ministry of Ecology of the Republic of Tatarstan and employees of the Volga-Kama Interregional Department of Rosprirodnadzor, together with laboratory specialists, promptly left for the Verkhneuslonsky district following a complaint from residents. On social networks, concerned Tatarstan residents reported that the Volga River had changed color.
Ecologists took samples of surface waters and bottom sediments. To conduct a study of water samples according to hydrochemical and hydrobiological parameters. The results of the analysis will be known within 5-7 days.
According to the inspectors of the Central TA, a possible reason for the change in the color of the water in the reservoir could be the flowering of water due to the development of blue-green algae. Now there is prolonged warm and sunny weather, which contributes to the flowering of the river, causing active photosynthesis.
The development of blue-green algae is a seasonal phenomenon, it begins in early summer and reaches a peak in August and September. The reasons that contribute to the reproduction of algae are the established abnormal hot weather, siltation of a water body and insufficient water exchange, the entry of diffuse effluents from the shores into water bodies and an increase in recreational load on reservoirs.
The most negative consequence of the reproduction of blue-green algae is the accumulation of cyanotoxins in the water, which have a detrimental effect on aquatic flora and fauna. The Ministry of Ecology, along with constant monitoring of water bodies, together with the scientific community of Tatarstan and the Russian Academy of Sciences, has launched a research pilot project for the Russian Federation to study and reduce the impact of diffuse runoff, which contributes a large amount of biogenic and organic substances to water bodies.