Ecological assessment of the environmental state in the area of Polymetal waste storage in the Southern of Kazakhstan

Abstract

The territory of Kazakhstan is rich in various minerals, which, unfortunately, during Soviet times were developed only for 1-2 components. The result of this attitude towards natural resources was the emergence of “man-made” deposits from the formed and stored waste of the mining and metallurgical complex. Due to erosion processes, waste storage sites have become sources of negative impact on the environment. The purpose of this study was to conduct an environmental assessment of the state of the environment in the area where polymetallic waste is stored in the south of Kazakhstan. An assessment of the ecological state of polymetallic waste revealed the presence of a number of toxic components that negatively affect the decrease in the biodiversity of microflora, represented only by the genera Thiobacillus, Pseudomonas, Penicillium, and Aspergillus in an amount of 10.0 CFU/g. It has been established that the projective cover and species diversity of phytocenoses of dumps and technosoils are in a correlative relationship with the distance to the storage site of polymetallic waste. Toxicotolerant species of native flora, Dodartia orientalis L. and Capparis spinosa L., were identified, growing in single copies on the surface of toxic waste. As the distance from toxic waste heaps increases, phytocenoses become enriched with species of Poaceae, Asteraceae, Polygonaceae, and Fabaceae. A complete absence of representatives of lumbric fauna was revealed in the residential area, which were found only sporadically 5.0±0.5 km from waste heaps. A negative impact of polymetallic waste on the health of the population of various age groups in a nearby village was noted, with a predominance of respiratory diseases, metabolic, and digestive disorders.