Ecological State of the Kola River, Northwestern Russia – The Kola Water Quality -project

The Kola River is situated in Northwestern Russia, Kola Peninsula, which is an area with about 70 year long history of copper and nickel mining and smelting. However, environmental effects on the Kola River, caused by industry and other human activities, are not studied thoroughly. Area of the Kola River basin is 3850 km2. The river flows 83 km from south to north and enters the Kola Bay of the Barents Sea in front of the Kola City. The Kola River is vital for the reproduction of salmon and it is also an important source of drinking water for about half a million people in the city of Murmansk and in the surrounding settlements. In the Kola Water Quality -project in years 2001–2004 one the main objectives was to define the ecological status of the Kola River. The Näätämöjoki River in northern Finland and Norway was surveyed as a reference area. This publication includes ecological studies carried out by North Ostrobothnia Regional Environment Centre (NOREC, Finland) and The Murmansk Areal Department for Hydrometeorology and Environmental Monitoring (MUGMS, Russia). Chapters concerning macroinvertebrate studies were written by Kristian Meissner (NOREC/ SYKE). Studies on macrozoobenthos after federal Russian hydrobiological monitoring methods are grouped in separate chapters and were reported by Sergey Kotov (MUGMS). Chapters concerning fish communities were written by Heikki Erkinaro (NOREC, Finnish Game and Fisheries Research Institute). Diatom community analyses were reported by Hanna Halmeenpää and Pirjo Niemelä (NOREC). Chapters concerning hydromorphological state of the river (River Habitat Survey) were written by Janne Alahuhta (NOREC) and chapters on macrophyte survey by Juha Riihimäki (Finnish Environment Institute). Studies on metal concentrations in aquatic bryophytes were reported by Hanna Halmeenpää (NOREC) and Kari-Matti Vuori (Finnish Environment Institute). Chapters concerning bacterioplankton and phytoplankton were written by Natalya Masuk (MUGMS), chapters on zooplankton by Natalya Dvornikova (MUGMS). Chapters concerning physical and chemical water quality of the rivers Kola and Näätämöjoki were written by Marina Zueva (MUGMS) and Hanna Halmeenpää (NOREC). Hanna Halmeenpää and Pirjo Niemelä (NOREC) took the responsibility of editing the report and writing of common chapters. On grounds of the ecological studies, the Kola River can be divided into three separate areas. At the upper river sections (K2-K3) the ecological status ranged from good to moderate. Signs on nutrient and metal (copper, nickel) loading could be detected both in water quality and in aquatic organisms. The ecological status of the mid-section (K4-K8) of the Kola River basin ranged from good to high. No major human impact could be seen. The estuary section (K9-K12) of the Kola River represented the moderate ecological status. This was probably caused by small, heavily polluted tributaries (Varlamov, Medvegiy and Zemlanoy) draining organic load and nutrient rich waters into main flow and also by other anthropogenic loading along the lower river section. The ecological status of the reference river Näätämöjoki was high on grounds of all the biological parameters used in this study.