Caspian Sea 2011

State of the Environment of the Caspian Sea

Iran: Pollution loads were calculated for all sectors regarding both point and diffuse sources, with the exception of those relating to transpor- tation and the agricultural application of pesti- cides. Sewage and agricultural activities, partic- ularly animal husbandry, are the major sources of pollution (i.e., BOD, TSS, and nutrients) in Iran. Urban run off also contributes to the to- tal suspended solids (TSS) pollution load. The nutrients (total nitrogen and total phosphorus) are derived from both point (sewage) and diffuse (crops and pastures) sources. Of the pollution loads in the three Caspian provinces, 26.5% stem from point and 73.5% from diffuse sources. Com- pared to calculations completed during Phase I of the CEP, the total pollution load has increased considerably. However, several mitigating cir- cumstances can explain this change. Firstly, the sources inventory is now a more complete study, providing additional and improved data. Point sources in this area were also more clearly iden- tified. Pollution loads from diffuse sources that were not considered during Phase I have been incorporated into the new calculations. Sec- ondly, an increase in population has led to an increase in the urban wastewater pollution load Kazakhstan: According to the Baseline Invento- ry, the total volume of discharged wastewater into the Caspian Sea, treated by standard methods, amounts to 820,138,000 m 3 . There are no direct discharges of untreated municipal and industrial wastewaters into the Caspian Sea. Wastewater treated to normative levels are discharged into evaporation ponds and filtration fields. Some of these are located close to the Caspian Sea and could thus be a source of diffuse emission by groundwater exchange or flooding. Such situa- tion has to be surveyed in the field and prevented by monitoring local coastal waters. Information concerning some industrial enterprises, such as the Atyrau Oil Refinery Plant and the MAEC-Kaz- AtomProm, is difficult to interpret. An emerging environmental priority is the sedi- mentation tank of “Tukhlaya Balka” in Kazakhstan. Wastewater from this tank in Atyrau represents

indicate that the population of Baku city has grown from about one million in 2000 to about two mil- lion in 2009 (The State Statistical Committee of the Republic of Azerbaijan 2009). Clearly, such popula- tion growth and industrial concentration have an impact on infrastructure which was not designed to cope with what are now far greater discharge loads. In Azerbaijan, Baku accounts for approximately 75% of the pollution load from domestic wastewater in the Caspian Sea (UNECE 2004). The wastewater net- work in Baku serves about 72% of the city, but only about 50% of the wastewater is treated – 90% bio- logically and 10% mechanically (UNECE 2004). The conclusion of the Baseline Inventory Report of 2008 is that there are three main sources of municipal wastewater discharges, with more than 100 tonnes per year of BOD, plus six main sources of industrial wastewater discharges with more than 10 tonnes per year of BOD - or more than one tonne per year of oil. The main municipal wastewater discharges are from Govsan Aeration Station (Baku- Surakhani), Zykh Treatment Stations (Baku-Hatai), and Kishly Manifold (Baku-Hatai). The main industrial waste- water discharges are from Rubber Synthesis and the Organic Synthesis Plant (Sumgayit). Water from both plants passes the water treatment system of the Organic Synthesis Plant and then is discharged. According to the questionnaires, there has been an improvement in wastewater management over the last three years. A programme on the installa- tion of wastewater treatment facilities and port- able water purification units, in all district cent- ers of the country, is being implemented. In 2007, a biological wastewater treatment facility with a daily capacity of 10,000 m 3 was built in Buzovna village. In 2008, the Mardakan-Shuvalya biological wastewater treatment facility with a daily capac- ity of 20,000 m 3 was commissioned after recon- struction. In 2009, the country’s largest biological wastewater treatment plant – Govsaninskaya sta- tion in Baku – was put into operation after recon- struction; its daily aeration capacity is 640,000 m 3 . In the same year, the first operation line of the newly-built biological wastewater treatment plant, 200,000m 3 daily capacity, was commis- sioned in Sumgayit (Questionnaire AZ 2010).

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