Air pollution of the largest cities in the Volyn region: preconditions, consequences and ways of solution of this problem

Abstract

Formulation of the problem. Air pollution is one of the biggest modern ecological problem, which aggravates with process of urbanization, industrial development, increasing number of vehicles, etc. So that, the article is devoted to the study the of air pollution in the largest cities of the Volyn region: Lutsk, Kowel, Novovolynsk and Volodymyr-Volynskyi. The purpose of the article is to estimate state and quality of the air in the largest cities of the Volyn region, discover the main sources of air pollution, characterize the effects of pollution on people health and environment, propose measures for solving this problem.

Review of previous publications and studies. State of the air pollution in the urban areas of the Volyn region became the subject of scientific interest of many scientists. Hulai L. D., Karaim O. A. and Syniuk, A. Yu. researched ecological state of air basin and structure of sources of air pollution in the Novovolynsk City. Panasiuk M. V. and Hulai L. D. analyzed air quality in the Kovel district and Kovel City. Problems of air pollution were investigated in the studies of Kiptenko Ye. M., Kozlenko T. V. and Molchak Ya. O., Fesiuk V. O., Kartava O. F. Moreover, Poruchynska, I. V. in her publication explored ways of reducing air pollution by vehicle in the Volyn region.

Methods. The most common methods in the research were analysis and synthesis, correlations and regressions, generalization and comparison. Moreover, to study the quality of air basin in the largest urban area – Lutsk City, the authors calculated index of air pollution.

Results. The study defined that the main source of air pollution in the urban systems are automobiles, which produce into the atmosphere 85-95 % of all emissions. Furthermore, stationary sources such as industrial enterprises and utility companies also pollute air basin of cities with hazardous substances. However, the amount of pollutants from these sources in the Lutsk City and Volodymyr-Volynskyi City slowly decreases. The authors researched that the air basin in Lutsk City is exposed to the greatest anthropogenic loading. According to the calculation of the air pollution index, city’s air basin belongs to the quality class «polluted air». Consequences of air pollution are quite different and have impact on environment and economic complex. Besides, poor air quality can cause different diseases. To solve this problem the authors propose to reconstruct and modernize enterprises’ treatment systems, to increase the number of environmental friendly public transport, to increase the areas with greenery, to introduce green logistics in transportation. The authors concluded that air basin in the most urbanized areas of the Volyn region is quite polluted, which caused by using vehicles and functioning of manufacture. So that, it is suggested measures to reduce the amount of emission from different source of pollution.

Scientific novelty and practical significance. The main preconditions and trends of modern changes in air quality of the largest cities in the Volyn region was researched for the first time. Furthermore, the authors identified the main sources of air pollution, which have affected the quality of urban air basins during recent years. In addition, index of air pollution in the Lutsk City was calculated for the period 2015-2020. The article proposes measures to improve air quality and reduce emissions from stationary and mobile sources of pollution.