Report - UNDP Russia

Box 4.2. Ambient air pollutionand public health in coal-miningcities of the Kemerovo RegionProkopyevsk (population 213,200) 19 isa large coal mining center. It used to have 17mines and 5 coal concentrate plants. The coalindustry produces up to 82% of all emissionsin the city. Ambient air within city limits hashigh concentrations of nitrogen dioxide (3times the Russian legal limit); benzopyrene (3.8times), and particulate matter (2.1 times) 20 .Children living in the worst polluted citydistrict had an abnormally high rate ofrespiratory diseases. In Leninsk-Kuznetskiy(population 105,400) there is a proven excessillnesses and 4-19% 18 of mortality. KemerovoRegion saw a 19.4% increase rise in diseaseincidence and 19.7% increase in mortality in1993–2006 (Box 4.2).People living in mining cities have tocope with unemployment and labor marketdifficulties in addition to environmentalpollution, raising stress levels and putting morepressure on public health.Liquidation of underground miningfacilities also endangers drinking water sources,and preventive steps were taken at 51 mines,which closed in 1994–1998, in order to protectwater sources 22 . Technical wear of equipment,and inadequate repair and reconstruction workon waste treatment facilities leads to methaneand carbon emissions from underground mineworkings and rising levels of ground water 23 .Closure of unprofitable workings in PermTerritory, another Russian coal mining region, ledto atmospheric pollution by mine dust and coalash, as well as worsening of drinking waterof premature deliveries, fetal deaths, childhealth anomalies and infant disease comparedwith the regional average 21 .Pollution in Kemerovo’s cites is alsocaused by dust rising from polluted soils,which makes land reclamation highlyimportant. According to the regionalDepartment of Natural Resources andEnvironment, there are more than 180,000hectares of unreclaimed land in Kemerovo,which is 10 times more than the nationalaverage As much as 20-27% of all land inKiselevsk and Prokopyevsk is unreclaimed.Coal mining companies sometime try to avoidresponsibility for land reclamation.quality. Pollution in the region causedaggravation of bronchial asthma among children,forcing increased spending on treatment 24 .Owners of ageing coal-powered powerstations are trying to reduce environmentalimpact by full or partial changeover to naturalgas, which lowers emissions of solids, sulfphurand nitrogen dioxides, and lowers ash and slagwaste, but this approach looks unpromisingbecause increasing natural gas prices make gasgeneratedpower uncompetitive. Investments toupgrade outdated facilities also lack feasibility asa way of solving environmental issues, due toshort residual life periods. The proposal, instead,is that all fuel oil and coal-dust boilers, which aretransferred to natural gas, should undergo workto reduce nitrogen oxide emissions. Such work(reduction of excessive air input, offstoichiometriccombustion, simplified two-stagecombustion) does not require capitalinvestments and, if properly executed, does notworsen boiler performance. Boilers that will18V.A.Zenkov, Hygiene problems in Kuzbass mining towns, abstract of a thesis for a Doctor of Medicine degree, 2000, p.4219Russia's Regions. Main social and economic indexes of Russian cities. 2008. Statistical Digest / Rosstat, M. 2008, 378 p.20Report on the sanitary and epidemiological situation in Kemerovo Region in 2005, Kemerovo, 200621Yu.F.Kaznin, A.S.Krasnov, Health status of pregnant women and new-born children in cities with developed coal industry //Environmental issues of the development of Kuzbass coal deposits, Novokuznetsk, 1991, p.43.22A.Ye.Agapov. Analysis of work during liquidation of unfeasible coal mines and open pits in 2008 // Coal, 2009, No.3, p.3-6.23V.A.Zenkov, E.A.Lodza, Sanitary and epidemiological support for restructuring of the Kuzbass coal industry // Public health and humanenvironment, 2001, No.9, pp. 32-3424S.V.Farnosova, Hygiene assessment of the combined influence of social and industrial factors on contraction and course of childbronchial asthma (based on data from depressive coal mining regions in Perm Territory), abstract of a thesis for a Doctor of Medicinedegree, Perm, 200878 National Human Development Report in the Russian Federation 2009