Author 1:

Name & Surname: Miroshnichenko S. A.
Company: Mining Institute, Ural Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences (Perm, Russia)
Work Position: Senior Researcher
Scientific Degree: Candidate of Geological and Mineralogical Sciences
Contacts: e-mail: kama2100@mail.ru

Author 2:

Name & Surname: Lepekhin A. P.
Company: Mining Institute, Ural Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences (Perm, Russia)
Work Position: Head of a laboratory
Scientific Degree: Professor, Doctor of Geological and Mineralogical Sciences

Author 3:

Name & Surname: Bogomolov A. V.
Company: Mining Institute, Ural Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences (Perm, Russia)
Work Position: Engineer

Production plants within the Solikamsk–Berezniki industrial hub (Upper Kama potassium and magnesium salt mining center) discharge process water, either directly or via small water courses, to the Kama River (Kama water reservoir), the main artery of the Western Urals, 920–880 km off the river mouth, in amount of close to 100 million cubic meters yearly. A key problem of the regional regulation of the induced load on the water body is background concentrations, in particular, of a few metals, that exceed the federal stream water quality standards for fishery water (maximum allowable concentration for fish industry). The Upper Kama water basin stretched to the Solikamsk–Berezniki industrial hub, with an area of 76700 km², is located in the under-populated north of the Kirov Region and Perm Territory. In this area, high metal content of surface water of the Kama River is conditioned by natural bogginess rather than by induced contamination, which is minor. This article gives an analysis of determinants of higher iron content of the Kama River water and draws a conclusion that regulation of technological loads based on the uniform federal stream water quality standards that neglect regional features of water bodies yields ecologically unjustified requirements of allowable concentrations in process water discharge and entails essential financial loss.

1. Metodika razrabotki normativov dopustimykh sbrosov veshchestv i mikroorganizmov v vodnye obekty dlya vodopolzovateley (Methodology of development of normatives of admissible releases of substances and microorganisms in water objects for water users). Approved by an order by Ministry of Natural Sciences of Russia of December 17, 2007 No. 333 (registered in Ministry of Justice of Russia of February 21, 2008 No. 11198). (in Russian).
2. Nikanorov A. M. Gidrokhimiya (Hydrochemistry). Leningrad : Gidrometeoizdat, 1989. 352 p.
3. Taysaev T. T. Geokhimiya taezhno-merzlotnykh landshaftov i poiski rudnykh mestorozhdeniy (Geochemistry of taigacryosolic landscapes and ore deposit explorations). Novosibirsk : Nauka, 1981. 136 p.
4. Varov A. A. Solevoy sostav verkhney Kamy i ee pritokov (Salt composition of upper Kama and its feeders). Izvestiya biologicheskogo instituta pri Permskom universitete = Bulletin of Biological Institute of Perm University. 1928. Part 4, Iss. 1. pp. 35–53.
5. Mnogoletnie dannye o rezhime i resursakh poverkhnostnykh vod sushi. Vypusk 25. Bassein reki Kamy (Long-term data about mode and resources of surface inland waters. Issue 25. Kama river basin). Leningrad : Gidrometeoizdat, 1988. Vol. 1. 707 p. (in Russian).
6. Lepikhin A. P., Miroshnichenko S. A. Osobennosti zadaniya «fonovoy» kontsentratsiy v estestvennykh vodotokakh (Peculiarities of assignment of background concentration in natural water flows). Vodnoe khozyaystvo Rossii = Water Sector of Russia. 2002. Vol. 4, No. 3. pp. 247–262.
7. Istomina A. M. Struktura i funktsionirovanie donnykh biotsenozov Kamskogo vodokhranilishcha : avtoreferat dissertatsii … kandidata biologicheskikh nauk (Structure and functioning of bottom biocoenosis of Kama water basin : thesis of inauguration of Dissertation … of Candidate of Biological Sciences). Saint Petersburg, 2007. 23 p.