Assessment of anthropogenic load on the Pripyat river valley in the Volyn region

The purpose of the study is to assess the anthropogenic load and to determine the ecological status of the Pripyat river valley in order to develop measures to improve it. The calculation was carried out in accordance with the method of determining the induction coefficient (ICAL), developed by A. Jacyk. According to the method, the general state of the river valley is considered as four independent main subsystems: «Radioactive contamination of the territory», «Land use», «Use of river runoff», «Water quality». It was established that there is no radioactive contamination of land in the Pripyat river valley. State of the subsystem «Land use» is rated as «satisfactory» with a quantitative level of 0,84. In the Pripyat river valley there was a close to normal irreversible water consumption and a discharge of water into the river network with quantitative measure 1. At the same time, a low discharges of polluted sewage and a high use of river runoff were observed and estimated at 3 and -3 points respectively. Consequently, the state of the subsystem «Use of river runoff» in the valley of the river Pripyat is classified as «bad» with a quantitative measure of 0.28. The state of the subsystem «Water Quality», according to the integral ecological index (2,1), described the water as category 2 of the second class («pure») with a quantitative measure 1. In general, the ecological status of the river valley of the river Pripyat was classified as «satisfactory», and the level of anthropogenic loading by magnitude ICAN was 0,8, which testifies on the rational but not balanced use of land and water resources in the management process. Hence, an estimation of anthropogenic load on the river valley is very important for the formation of environmental protection and the establishment of indicators that most influence the ecological status of the river.