Experts from the “To Be Precise” project compiled an environmental rating of regions

Analysts of the “To be Precise” project of the “Need Help” charitable foundation based on the results of 2022 compiled a rating of the well-being of Russian regions based on four indicators – air, soil, water pollution and waste management. The top ten most environmentally dangerous regions included, in particular, the Kurgan, Irkutsk and Chelyabinsk regions, Khakassia and the Krasnoyarsk Territory. Among the environmentally successful ones are Adygea and Mari El. Experts interviewed by Kommersant have questions about the methodology of the study and rating; Rospotrebnadzor admits that environmental factors affect the health of citizens, but notes the department’s success in preventing mortality and morbidity from polluted air and low-quality drinking water.

In October 2022, the To Be Precise project for the first time presented a rating of the environmental well-being of regions (based on data for 2021): then soil, water and air pollution were assessed; The fourth criterion was the level of atmospheric emissions from mobile sources. In second ranking, based on 2022 statistics, the first three parameters remained the same, and waste management was examined instead of emissions. Experts analyzed data, reports and annual reports from Rospotrebnadzor, Roshydromet, Rosprirodnadzor, and the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources. As a result, 85 Russian regions (with the exception of new territories annexed to the Russian Federation on September 30, 2022) are distributed into five groups; The first includes the most prosperous areas, the last – the most problematic areas.

The most environmentally prosperous in 2022 were the republics of Adygea and Mari El, Penza and Oryol regions. The Republic and Oryol region repeated the success of 2021; Sevastopol and the Kostroma region left the “major league”. The Astrakhan, Irkutsk, Kurgan, Moscow, Rostov and Chelyabinsk regions, Buryatia, Khakassia, Krasnoyarsk Territory and Trans-Baikal Territory are named anti-leaders. “In the regions with the lowest rating, the state of the environment is noticeably more dangerous than in the rest, and the problems need to be solved urgently,” comments To Be Precise analyst Vladimir Omelin. “But it is impossible to say that there are no environmental problems in the leading regions.” .

Citing data from Rospotrebnadzor, researchers report that additional mortality associated with unfavorable environmental factors in the country as a whole increased by 9% compared to the previous year and reached 25.5 thousand deaths. “At least 49% of Russia’s urban population – more than 52 million people (2 million more than in 2021) – live in cities with high and very high levels of air pollution, and additional mortality due to dirty air increased by 15% over the year. and reached 7678 deaths,” the authors note. 11 thousand people could die from contaminated drinking water during 2022, researchers believe: “Every ninth resident of Russia does not have access to clean water. The worst situation is in Kalmykia, where only 7% of the republic’s population is provided with high-quality drinking water.” In second place in the water anti-rating is Tuva (38% of residents have access to quality water).

Another major problem is the increase in waste volume: “In 2022 alone, more than 9 billion tons were generated – 6.7% more than in 2021.” The growing volume of waste is not always kept up with its sorting and recycling, researchers note. The largest number of unauthorized landfills was recorded in Bashkiria (901 landfills) – however, over the year their number has decreased by half.

Head of the Popular Front. Analyst Olga Pozdnyakova told Kommersant that the NF also regularly conducts research on the environmental well-being of regions and faces complaints from citizens about the quality of air and drinking water – Ms. Pozdnyakova gives examples of situations in which residents went to medical institutions with symptoms of acute intestinal infection after complaints on the color and smell of water.

“Environmental factors, including groups of socio-economic and sanitary-hygienic factors, as well as factors characterizing the lifestyle of the population, have a decisive influence on the health of the population in the constituent entities of the Russian Federation,” Rospotrebnadzor admits to Kommersant. At the same time, they note that thanks to the department’s actions “to improve air quality, more than 16.2 thousand additional deaths were likely prevented, reducing drinking water pollution – more than 7.90 thousand cases, improving soil quality – more than 5.41 thousand cases , reducing the level of exposure to physical factors – more than 1.36 thousand cases.” “As a result of the activities of Rospotrebnadzor to reduce the level of environmental pollution in 2022, more than 2583.6 thousand additional cases of diseases likely associated with high levels of air pollution were prevented, more than 805.8 thousand cases were prevented with the quality of drinking water, more than 887, 2 thousand cases – with the quality of soils in residential areas, more than 3.47 thousand cases of diseases associated with exposure to physical factors (noise, vibration, etc.) on the population,” stated the department’s press service.

“Of course, environmental factors can influence public health indicators,” confirms the head of the department of general hygiene of Moscow State Medical University. I.M. Sechenov Ministry of Health of Russia Oleg Mitrokhin. “However, it is premature to comment on specific figures, since the methodology of the study itself and the sources of data raise questions.”

Polina Yachmennikova, Natalya Kostarnova