Geoecological problems of natural territorial complexes influenced by large industrial centers (examplified by the Salavat urban district of the Republic of Bashkortostan)
An ecological substantiation of sustainability of geoecosystems at the territory of one of the centers of the petrochemical complex in the Republic of Bashkortostan was carried out on the example of district of Salavat. The researchers used the statistical data from the investment passport of the urban district of Salavat to rank the lands according to the degree of anthropogenic load and calculate the environmental stress, ecological fund, natural protection coefficient of the studied territories on the basis of B.I. Kochurov and E. V. Grivko methodology (Kochurov, 2013; Grivko, 2016). The last indicator was considered as an indicator of sustainability. The main contributors to air pollution are the facilities of the industrial sites of “Gazprom Neftekhim Salavat, LLC” and “Salavatsteklo, JSC”. The laboratory tests prove that the priority contaminants contained in the Belaya River are bicarbonate ions, among metals - calcium ions as well as organic substances. On the basis of the obtained data water pollution index was calculated for 10 priority impurities: bicarbonate ion, chloride ion, suspended solids, ions of calcium, magnesium, cobalt, lead, petroleum products and organic substances. Biotesting of samples of soil and surface waters of the Belaya River was carried out on watercress as an additional research method. The analysis made it possible, with a high degree of probability, to classify the concentration of industrial enterprises and their infrastructure on a narrow fifteen-kilometer strip along the left bank of the Belaya River as a leading geoecological problem of the studied territory. Such density of anthropogenic objects increases unsustainability of the natural-territorial complex. To create a positive ecological and economic balance, it is recommended to equip 10 % (1062 hectares) of land occupied by industrial enterprises with denser green spaces. Moreover, 6 % (637 hectares) of the arable land that is part of the urban district should be transferred to the category of pastures and hayfields, and 5 % (531 hectares) of roadside areas of the main highways should be equipped with seven-to-ten-row green belts. These simple measures can improve the situation and transfer the studied territory of the urban district of Salavat from an unsustainable state to a moderately sustainable one.