Assessment of biogenous load on the Gulf of Finland exerted from the Russian territory

The purpose of the essay was analysis and evaluation of the load generated by pollutants in the Russian part of the catchment area directly entering the Baltic Sea, as well as consideration of pro-rata contribution of all sources in the formation of factual biogenous load at the catchment areas of rivers flowing into the Gulf of Finland.

The assessment of biogenous load was made on the basis of observation data, statistical reporting data, mathematical modelling data and additional monitoring data for bodies of water in previously uncontrolled areas. To assess the amount of biogenous input from uncontrolled tributaries of the Gulf of Finland, field observations of the discharge and concentration of pollutants over a number of past years were analyzed and generalized.

It is noted that there has been a tendency towards reduction of pollutants for a number of substances in the last decade, as shown by the analysis. It is demonstrated that a significant decrease is due to reduced load from point sources that discharge pollutants directly to the Baltic Sea and its bays. Some proposals are presented for improving the Russian system of monitoring the load exerted on water bodies.