Caspian Sea: State of the Environment 2019

metre, sulphur dioxide – 0.5 μg per cubic me- tre, nitrogen dioxide – 1.6 μg per cubic metre, sulphate – 6.6 μg per cubic metre, hydrogen sul- phide – 0.14 μg per cubic metre, suspended par- ticulate matter – 45.1 μg per cubic metre, and benzo(a)pyrene and benzoperylene – 0.004 ng per cubic metre. Atmospheric pollution on the Caspian coast in the Russian Federation is local in nature and is concentrated over the cities and the Astrakhan Gas Processing Plant. Air quality did, however, improve between 2012 and 2016 (Roshydromet 2016). In Turkmenistan, the primary challenge is from stationary sources. Between 75 and 95 per cent of total emissions come from the oil and gas, chemical, manufacturing, construction, textiles and cotton processing industries (Turkmen- istan, Ministry of Nature Protection of Turk- menistan 2010).

number of such samples in the city and across the republic as a whole between 2012 and 2016. Both Rospotrebnadzor and Roshydromet have also confirmed that air quality in Astrakhan im- proved over the same period. In the Republic of Kalmykia, no air samples in which pollutant concentrations exceeded the maximum permis- sible concentration were taken in 2012–2015. However, the concentration of pollutants in cit- ies on the Russian Caspian coast is much higher than in coastal areas far from urban settlements (Russian Federation, Federal Service for the Oversight of Customer Protection and Welfare 2012–2016). According to data from integrated background monitoring stations located on the Caspian coast, average atmospheric concentrations for the period 2012–2016 were as follows: lead – 4.0 ng per cubic metre, cadmium – 1.4 ng per cubic

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