Ecological aspects of water quality investigation in connection with projects of hydropower plants' construction on the Timpton River, Yakutia, Russia

• Published in: Polar Science
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2022
• Subjects: Southern Yakutia; Hydropower plant; Ecological state; Hydrochemistry; Phytoperiphyton; Zoobenthos; Sakha; Aldan; Polar Science; Republic of Sakha; Yakutia
• Online Access: https://nipr.repo.nii.ac.jp/?action=repository_uri&item_id=16951; http://id.nii.ac.jp/1291/00016821/

An intensification of industrial development of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) involves the Kankunskaya hydropower plant construction project, implementation of which would have a drastic impact on the ecological state of surface waters within the Timpton River basin. A necessary stage of all pre-construction survey work is the initial environmental state assessment. In this regard, a study of baseline hydrochemical and hydrobiological state of water, including an investigation of phytoperiphyton and benthic fauna, has been carried out. As a result, it has been found a low salinity of waters, a small nutrients' content, and an increased heavy metals' content. It has been discovered 12 new species of algae for the water bodies of Yakutia and 92 new species in the Aldan River basin. The modern composition of the benthic fauna includes 8 taxonomic groups, the dominant position is occupied by the larvae of caddisflies and chironomids. The quantitative parameters of the zoobenthos of the watercourses of the Timpton River are low: during the study period, the biomass varied within 0–0.9 g/m2 at a density of 0–72 ind./m2.