Environmental performances and biological toxicity of snowpack water

Abstract

This work analyzes the state of snowpack in Nizhny Novgorod on the basis of certain chemical performances and integral biological toxicity. Snow samples were obtained in February 2018 along major highways of Nizhny Novgorod. A snow-covered area in Dubrava forestry was selected as reference. The studies demonstrated that the snowpack was characterized by very high concentrations of chlorides and sulfides: in sampling points of the Lower City, the content of chlorides and sulfates varied in the ranges of 24.67–62.36 mg/l and 30.16–62.09 mg/l, respectively, and in sampling points of the Upper City, this variability was 416.82–988.45 mg/l and 280.11–879.22 mg/l, respectively. The content of lead in snowpack in both the Lower City and the Upper City was approximately the same (0.0053 and 0.0048 mg/l). The minimum content of pollutants in snow samples from reference site was characterized by toxicity (10%, V = 6.0%) which was estimated as allowable (toxicity class 1). Snowpack water from the Lower City was characterized generally by medium toxicity (class 2), and sampled in the Upper City – by acute toxicity (59%, V = 26.5%), with regard to the reference (class 3).