Crustaceans of the Volga delta in emergency conditions of oil spills

Abstract

The article describes the dangerous consequences of petroleum products - the most dangerous pollutants of the aquatic environment, which disturb many natural processes and relationships, changing the habitat of aquatic organisms.A variety of sources contributes to the pollution of natural waters with various fractional composition of petroleum products. The complex studies of oil pollution of water bodies were carried out in the vicinities of Astrakhan in places of accidental oil spills in 2013-2015. Analysis of the study results confirmed the need to assess the extent of water pollution by hydrocarbons, not only in terms of the mass concentration of oil in the water, but also in biological parameters of the harmless concentration of the toxicant, because under equal levels of mass concentration oil contaminants with different fractional composition have different degree of toxic effects on living organisms. The heavy oil fractions of the oil products had the maximum effect on Daphnia magna Straus. The limit of harmless concentration of oil products dissolved in natural waters of the Serebryanaya Volozhka canal was 0.034-0.136 mg/dm3; the limit of harmless concentrations of oil products spilled on the water surface made 0.014 mg/dm3. This is 3.6 times less than maximum permissible coefficient of oil products in the water bodies of Russia (0.05 mg/dm3). Bioassay methods, along with the traditional analytical methods have to be used in a comprehensive study of oil pollution of the aquatic environment.