ABSTRACT
The features of pollution of aquatic environments in the area of impact of Kholodnenskoe polymetallic deposit, located in the water basin of the Lake Baikal is considered. The main existing sources of pollution and the scale of the impact on the drainage watercourses were determined. Today, it is part of the basin of the River Kholodnaya, which flows near the mine and takes water streams flowing from abandoned tunnels. In the waters of these streams high concentrations of pollutants for a number of heavy metals have been revealed. They in the hundreds and thousands of times higher as compared with the maximum allowable concentration of pollutants. Directly in waters of Lake Baikal, where the Kholodnay flows, exceeding the permissible values are not identified. Based on the analysis of the selected samples, conclusions are made about the peculiarities of migration of chemical elements in the “Kholodnaya River–Lake Baikal” system.
