Estimation of Input of Unintentionally Produced Persistent Organic Pollutants into the Air Basin of the Odessa Industrial-and-Urban Agglomeration

The environmental legislation in Ukraine is changing rapidly. These changes are related to the adaptation of Ukrainian laws to the requirements of the European Union. In this regard, the paper considers the unintentional production of Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) in the Odessa Industrial-and-Urban Agglomeration (next – Odessa agglomeration) in the context of new regulatory and legal requirements of Ukraine. In many countries around the world, the issue of pollution of environmental components by POPs has a large focus, because POPs pose a global threat to the environment and human health. The work aims to assess the main sources of unintentional production of POPs in the Odessa agglomeration during one year (2017), taking into account the new territorial features of the Odessa agglomeration. For the first time for Odessa agglomeration, the mass of POPs formed by main sources using the newest European methodological approach was calculated, sources of unintentional production of POPs on volumes of these substances were ranked, and their total mass of generation on the territory of Odessa agglomeration was calculated. The number of POPs molecules equivalent to 2,3,7,8-TСDD, which infiltrate into the air basin of the Odessa agglomeration, hence into the organisms of the agglomeration inhabitants, was calculated. The obtained results were compared with the allowable number per capita of the agglomeration, the relevant conclusions were drawn. Priority sources of unintentional production of POPs were identified, which allows taking appropriate preventive measures to reduce the scale of their generation.