Joint complex expedition of LIN SB RAS with the Baikal Interregional Environmental Prosecutor`s Office in the South Baikal water area on June 21-25, 2024

The work was carried out within the State Assignment of LIN SB RAS No. 0279-2021-0005 “Study of transformations of the state of water bodies and watercourses of Eastern Siberia in seasonal and long-term aspects in the context of climate change, geological environment and anthropogenic loads” (led by A.P. Fedotov).

The scientific programme of the expedition included work to determine the indicators of treated wastewater in accordance with the Order of the Ministry of Natural Resources of the Russian Federation dated 21.02.2020 No. 83 on wastewater discharge into Lake Baikal and its tributaries. For chemical and sanitary-microbiological analyses, watercourses were tested at the discharge points of the WWTPs of the settlements of Babushkin, Baikalsk, Slyudyanka, Kultuk and Vydrino.

Bottom sediments and biota (mollusks, amphipods) were sampled in the mixing zones of river waters flowing through these settlements and Lake Baikal to determine chemical pollutants of anthropogenic origin.

To determine the forms of organochlorine compounds, bottom sediment cores were collected at the site of the industrial effluent discharge of JSC “BPPM” (Baikalsk).

Underwater transects of the Tankhoy Formation, the oldest sedimentary transect on Lake Baikal with an age of more than 25 million years, were studied.

For the popularization of scientific knowledge and career guidance of schoolchildren, practical lessons on measurements of echo-acoustic parameters of the shallow water zone of Lake Baikal using hydrophones were conducted.