Assessment of bioremediation capacity and environmental regulation of urban soils on benz(a)pyrene pollution

Abstract

Methodological problems of the quantitative assessment of pollution of urban soils by benzo(a)pyrene and their bioremediation are considered by the example of the Moscow metropolis. Available materials of scientific publications and official reports of the «Mosecomonitoring» municipal system about pollution of urban soils by benzo(a)pyrene and the patterns of its dynamics were used. The methodological basis of the study was mathematical modeling, including both non-linear regression analysis in the S-Plot-11 program and numerical computer simulation in the Matlab-7 software. Analysis of published materials reveals at least a double excess of the maximum permissible level of pollution of urban soils by benzo(a)pyrene at 70% of the territory of the Moscow metropolis, with a high probability of an extremely high degree of pollution in several dozen MPCs at 10% of the city's area. Unlike known works in this field, the study links such a negative situation not with the resistance of benzo(a)pyrene in soils, but with its high technogenic load. A simple kinetic model, verified for experimental information on biodegradation of benzo(a)pyrene in soils, makes it possible to assess the permissible limits of technogenic load, guaranteeing the self-cleaning of urban soils from this dangerous pollutant in the conditions of Moscow.