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This study was an investigation of the need for pre-treatment of a new raw water source for artificial groundwater recharge. The study was done through a column test, well sampling and survey data relating to 11 artificial recharge plants in Sweden. The column test showed that only 30% of the natural organic matter (NOM) was removed from the new raw water source during infiltration. The survey revealed that the new water source's quality was within the range requiring pre-treatment prior to infiltration. The well sampling results showed a significant correlation between the NOM content in the raw and treated waters for WTPs without pre-treatment (r = 0.78 and ρ = 0.04), indicating one of the short-term limitations of artificial recharge. The study results indicate that the new raw water source is unsuitable for direct use in artificial recharge and that treatment is required prior to infiltration. HIGHLIGHTS This study shows the synergetic effect of chemical flocculation and managed aquifer recharge (MAR).; NOM removal limitations during artificial recharge were observed.; The investigation showed indications of different treatment efficiencies during MAR depending on NOM composition.; Treatment efficiencies from Swedish water utilities are made available to an international readership.

A study to monitor atrazine (ATZ) and its metabolites (ATZs) (including DEA, deethylatrazine; DIA, deisopropylatrazine; HA, hydroxyatrazine) in drinking water treatment plants from water source to ...

The article proves that a systematic approach to the urban organization of coastal areas includes complex environmental and recreational tasks. The study examines in detail the need to create a comprehensive strategy for the restoration of the coastal zone. The complex of measures is substantiated, among which the activation of water protection functions of coastal areas, rehabilitation of disturbed territories, use of recreational and town-planning potential of coastal territories for formation of recreational base along water area, development of integrated system of management of processes of coastal zones and integration of ecosystems. The work separately highlights the possibility of creating a recreational cluster that will ensure the continuity of the natural framework, given the multi-vector formation of the urban environment. It is established, that the connection of the recreational cluster with the suburban green strip and water area will create a pedestrian recreational corridor in the city and beyond, as well as contribute to the greening of the city and influence the modeling of ecological infrastructure.

Pharmaceuticals are emerging contaminants in the environment. Little has been published about the presence of pharmaceuticals in waterbodies nearby or on reserve land of First Nations in Canada. The objectives of this study were to (1) quantify the level of pharmaceuticals in First Nations' surface waters, (2) calculate the human health risks of the mixtures found, and (3) measure the exposure to pharmaceuticals in First Nations' drinking water where source water was highly contaminated.This participatory study measured the levels of 43 pharmaceuticals from surface water samples taken at three water sampling sites chosen by the 95 participating First Nations. The sites were in proximity to recreational areas, fishing areas, drinking water sources, and/or wastewater outflows. When elevated levels of pharmaceutical mixtures were found in samples, drinking water samples were obtained and analyzed for potential pharmaceuticals. Human health risks were calculated by an established protocol.In total, 432 samples were collected at 302 water sampling sites (285 surface water, 11 drinking water, and 6 wastewater sites). Quantifiable levels of 35 pharmaceuticals were found in 79 of the 95 (83%) participating First Nations at 193 of the 285 surface water sites (68%). Overall, the levels found were comparable to or lower than those found in other studies in Canada and worldwide.In almost all participating First Nations, there is no human health risk from consuming surface water for drinking. However, surface water in the vicinity of major urban centres should not be used as secondary untreated water sources due to the elevated human health risk associated with exposure to the mixtures of multiple pharmaceuticals detected.RéSUMé: OBJECTIFS: Les produits pharmaceutiques sont des contaminants émergents dans l’environnement. Peu d’articles ont été publiés sur la présence de produits pharmaceutiques dans les plans d’eau à proximité ou sur les terres des réserves des Premières Nations au Canada. Les objectifs de cette étude étaient de 1) quantifier le niveau de produits pharmaceutiques dans les eaux de surface des Premières Nations, 2) calculer les risques pour la santé humaine des mélanges trouvés, et 3) mesurer l’exposition aux produits pharmaceutiques dans l’eau potable des Premières Nations où la source d’eau était fortement contaminée. MéTHODES: Cette étude participative a mesuré les niveaux de 43 produits pharmaceutiques à partir d’échantillons d’eau de surface prélevés dans trois sites d’échantillonnage d’eau choisis par les 95 Premières Nations participantes. Les sites se trouvaient à proximité d’aires récréatives, de pêche, d’eau potable et/ou d’eaux usées. Lorsque des niveaux élevés de mélanges pharmaceutiques ont été trouvés dans les échantillons, des échantillons d’eau potable ont été prélevés et analysés pour la présence possible de produits pharmaceutiques. Les risques pour la santé humaine ont été calculés selon un protocole établi. RéSULTATS: Au total, 432 échantillons ont été prélevés sur 302 sites d’échantillonnage d’eau (285 eaux de surface, 11 sites d’eau potable et 6 sites d’eaux usées). Des niveaux quantifiables de 35 produits pharmaceutiques ont été trouvés dans 79 des 95 (83 %) Premières Nations participantes, soit sans 193 des 285 sites d’eau de surface (68 %). Dans l’ensemble, les niveaux trouvés étaient comparables ou inférieurs à ceux trouvés dans d’autres études au Canada, aux États-Unis et dans le monde. CONCLUSION: Dans presque toutes les Premières Nations participantes, il n’y a aucun risque pour la santé humaine lié à la consommation d’eau de surface pour la boisson. Cependant, les eaux de surface à proximité des grands centres urbains ne devraient pas être utilisées comme sources d’eau secondaires non traitées en raison du risque élevé pour la santé humaine associé à l’exposition aux mélanges de plusieurs produits pharmaceutiques détectés.

The Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) 2017 Update and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Baselines report classified 71% of the global population as having access to ‘safely managed’ drinking water. Current global monitoring efforts to track access to safely managed drinking water rely on collecting information on the ‘primary’ source of drinking water. However, there is evidence that households often rely on multiple sources to meet their water needs in many low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). This systematic review was designed to compile the literature related to the practice of multiple water source use (MWSU) for drinking water in LMICs. A total of 5,318 studies were collected, and after abstract and full-text review, 74 articles were identified for inclusion. Studies reviewed reported from 4 to 100% of the study populations practicing MWSU. Additionally, the practice of supplemental unimproved source use was reported globally, representing households with improved primary source water also accessing unimproved water sources throughout the year. These findings expose gaps in current global water monitoring efforts, revealing potential inflation of reports of ‘safe drinking water access’ and unaccounted exposure to drinking water from unimproved sources. HIGHLIGHTS Multiple water source use has been identified in 43 countries and 4 continents, and in urban and rural areas.; Many households reported supplementing improved water sources with unimproved water throughout the year.; Current water access monitoring methods focus on a household's primary water source. Global estimates likely overestimate the proportion of the population using basic and safely managed drinking water sources.

The article proposes the measures to prevent pollution, clogging, siltation of water bodies and depletion of their waters, as well as to preserve the habitat of aquatic biological resources and other objects of the animal and plant world. The impacts on water resources, both technogenic and anthropogenic, is increasing, leading to ecological deterioration. As a rule, the main reason for that is pollution. It should be noted that the negative impact on the ecosystem of water bodies is expressed in the pollution not only the water bodies, but also water protection zones and coastal strips.

The paper reveals the content of "protection of water bodies" concept, giving particular attention to the consideration of the legal regime of water protection zones and coastal protection zones as one of the legal mechanisms for the protection of water bodies from pollution, clogging, siltation. The author analyses of the peculiarities of the legal regime of water protection zones of the Soviet and current Russian legislation. Based on the current legislation and current judicial practice, the author considers the characteristics of the legal regime of the above mentioned zones and some problems of compliance with the regime (for example, violation of the legal regime of the water protection zone due to the absence of information signs on the ground), which one has to face in practice. In this regard, the author gives special attention to the need to inform nature users and increase their level of ecological culture. The author concludes that there is some inconsistency of the current water legislation in the context of the legal regime of water protection zones and coastal protection zones with the ecosystem approach in nature management. The formally envisaged legal regulation creates only the appearance of effective mechanisms for water protection.

The nature and intensity of erosion processes are an important parameter for monitoring water protection area of water body. A technique, based on field and office studies, which were carried out with the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) (Phantom 4 Pro and Phantom 4 Advanced), was worked out and the intensity of the manifestation of erosion processes in the water protection area of the Tsimlyansk reservoir was assessed (on the example of Dubovsky district). In our research, the comparative-geographic method was used. That allowed us very accurately to identify erosional objects on the ground, and to determine their morphological and morphometric characteristics. Cameral works processed the data obtained by using UAVs. The tools of the Agisoft Metashape Professional program and the tools of the ArcGIS program were used during the work. These programs make it possible, without labor-intensive instrumental field research, to draw up orthophotoplans for gullies and determine their areas, steepness of slopes, length and width of slopes, depth of gullies, make longitudinal and transverse profiles of gullies, measure the volume of gullies and a number of other parameters. This method gives us a complete picture of the gullying network within the water protection area. In addition, a comparison of survey materials for different periods makes it possible to identify trends in the development of individual erosional forms, as well as the entire gullying network within the water protection area as a whole.

Az Országos Vízügyi Főigazgatóság jelenlegi szervezeti felépítésében 2012 januárjától működik, a belügyminiszter irányítása alá tartozó, országos hatáskörű szervként. Közel 240 munkatársa között vannak vízügyi szakemberek, mérnökök, közgazdászok, informatikusok is, akik az általuk képviselt szakterületről hozott tudással, gyakorlattal járulnak hozzá a Főigazgatóság szerteágazó feladatainak eredményes végrehajtásához. A sokrétű tevékenységek közé tartozik többek között a regionális vízügyi igazgatóságok irányításán keresztül a felszíni vizek, vízfolyások és csatornák, vízgazdálkodási rendszerek és védművek fenntartása, üzemeltetése, a felszín alatti vízkészletekkel való gazdálkodás, a lehetséges víznyerő területek távlati ivóvízbázissá nyilvánítása, a vizek kártételei elleni védelem ellátása, számos csatornán, különböző szinten történő nemzetközi kapcsolattartás a vízvédelem, az árvízkockázat kezelésének területén. A vízügyi igazgatás speciális terület, amely nem a hagyományos értelemben vett közigazgatási egységekre, hanem a vízgyűjtőkre szerveződik. Arról, hogy milyen összetett feladatokat jelent mindez a hétköznapokban, hogyan készülnek a téli hónapokra a vízvédelem terén, valamint milyen kihívások elé állította a 2020. év és a járványhelyzet a szervezetet, kérdeztük Láng István főigazgató urat, akinek a kérdéseket Hornyik Zsuzsanna tette fel.

A technological scheme and technical documentation for the manufacture of a test bench with a purified water capacity of 300 l/h have been developed. Long-term tests were carried out on a test bench, as well as analysis of the quality of the sampled water before purification, with the use of an electromagnetic treatment device and without it. As a result of the tests carried out, it was found that the total salt content after the reverse osmosis unit decreased from 535.5 to 30.0 mg / l, and in water with the use of magnetic water treat- ment – from 535.5 to 12.7. Moreover, the pH in the first case varied from 8.3 to 6.2, in the second – from 8.3 to 6.44. It has been established that the use of magnetic water treatment in desalination before the reverse osmosis unit has a positive result, namely, calcium and magnesium salts do not settle on the reverse osmosis membranes, thereby prolonging the service life of the reverse osmosis membranes.

In 2012 the Dutch High-Water Protection Programme (HWPP) was initiated. This programme prioritised dike strengthening projects for the near future with a yearly budget of around 350 million Euros. ...

Samples were taken from fifty-one surface source water stations (including reservoirs, rivers, and lakes) in the Huaihe River basin to determine the typical organic pollutant contamination status of the major source water. The samples were tested for 17 different organic contaminants, including benzene homology, chlorobenzene compounds, organophosphorous insecticides, and nitrogenbenzene compounds. The amounts of the 17 chemicals in the fifty-one source water samples were all fewer than the Chinese surface water quality standard’s standard limit levels. The results of the target chemical detection rate revealed that typical organic contaminants have been prevalent in the Huaihe River basin’s source water. The noncarcinogenic risk HQ values of the target compounds were less than one, and the cancer risk values of most source water sites were much lower than the 1  10-6; only the cancer risk values of sites 4, 13, 19, 23, 38, and 40 were higher than the 1  10-6, indicating that the health risk posed by the target compounds in the majority of source water sites was within acceptable limits.

Taste-and-odor occurrence has extensive socio-economic impacts on drinking water, which is now a public health concern. Sulfur odorants can significantly affect the esthetic quality of drinking water and arouse unpleasant organoleptic experience of consumers, which can also harm the human body at high concentration levels. Researches on analysis of sulfur odorants in air and environmental water are numerous, while the reports on analysis of them in tap water are few. The analysis of sulfur odorants in tap water is quite different with it in environmental samples owing to the treatment of the water plant, such as the introduction of disinfectants. In this paper, a novel and practical method for determining the dimethyl disulfide (DMDS) and dimethyl trisulfide (DMTS) in tap water and source water by purge-and-trap coupled to gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) analysis was proposed. The evaluations of sample preservation were performed due to the adverse impact caused by the remaining disinfectant in tap water on the analysis of DMDS and DMTS, including the investigation on the selection and the dosage of preservatives. Besides, aspects affecting the preconcentration procedure and GC–MS analysis of DMDS and DMTS were investigated as well. Moreover, the proposed method was validated by five independent laboratories from different regions of China, representing a good linearity with correlation coefficients (r) ranged from 0.9990 to 0.9999 for both DMDS and DMTS between the concentrations of 10 ng L−1 and 100 ng L−1. The method detection limit (MDL) and limit of quantification (LOQ) of DMDS and DMTS were 3 ng L−1 and 10 ng L−1, respectively. Meanwhile, satisfactory precision and accuracy were also obtained when the method was applied to detect DMDS and DMTS in tap water and source water. The relative standard deviation (RSD) was 0.90–7.3% for DMDS and 1.1–7.6% for DMTS, and the recovery was 81.2–120% for DMDS and 73.6–118% for DMTS. Furthermore, the repeatability limits and reproducibility limits of DMDS and DMTS were acquired, ranging from 0.631 to 5.71 at low, medium and high concentrations. The proposed method is an effective, environmentally friendly, and promising approach for routine monitoring of DMDS and DMTS in tap water and source water.

The article presents results of the inventory of recreation facilities in the river basins (the Aley, the Charysh, and the Chumysh) and lakes (Bolshoye Yarovoe, Zavyalovo, and Chany) in the South of Western Siberia. The article shows the actual interaction of elements of recreational and water protection infrastructure on recreation-significant areas of the coast. Out of 72 objects identified in the study area, 19 are located within the water protection zone of water bodies. Potential conflicts of land use and benefits of joint development of recreational and water protection facilities were assessed on the coasts. For spatial analysis, specialized indicators are proposed: the coastal protection index and the recreational reserve index. The results of calculation of indices on the example of basins of key water bodies are presented and their differentiation by the degree of protection of the coast and the level of development of recreational infrastructure is shown. Conclusions are drawn about the need to clarify the theoretical and methodological tools for making tactical and strategic decisions in the management of recreational areas.

Barada Basin, where the capital of Syria, Damascus, is located, and hence where most of the human activities are concentrated, suffers from serious environmental problems due to the migration from rural areas, illegal settlements, industrialization, urbanization, and overexploitation of environment. Huge amounts of wastewater (domestic, industrial, and agricultural) are discharged every day to the landscape as well as into Barada and Awaj Rivers without sufficient treatment. This paper is devoted to the water pollution issues in Barada Basin. River water quality has been analyzed, some studies on the assessment of pollution in the Barada River are presented, environmental protection measures and restoration of the river ecosystem are recommended.

Determining value of erosion network density in the water protection zone is the compulsory index in the automated information system of water bodies state monitoring. The authors of the article developed and tested when studying the Tsimlyansk reservoir water protection zone recommendations for determining erosion network density by materials of distant inspections carried out using pilot-less aircraft (PLA) and tools of geographic information systems (GIS). In the article assessment of erosion network density for the Belgorodsk reservoir water protection zone carried out using given recommendations is presented. Such inspections are especially actual for the banks where regular observation benchmark network is lacking or they have low transport accessibility. Based on series of photographs made by pilotless aircrafts using Agisoft Photo Scan programme relief numerical models and orthophotomaps of the water protection zone are constructed. By direct and indirect signs position of tolwegs for the relief linear erosion forms of different orders—from furrows and grooves to brooks and small rivers. According to the recommendations developed by the authors, the water protection zone is divided into elementary segments and for every of them the value of erosion network density determined using GIS tools. Assessment of erosion network density showed that on the background of general low degree of the relief horizontal dismemberment for the Belgorodsk reservoir water protection zone the reservoir right-bank within Shebekinsky municipal region was distinguished noticeably. The erosion network density of this plot by 5–7 times exceeds the value of this parameter for the whole water protection zone of the reservoir. And only here relief erosion forms fully located within the water protection zone predominate noticeably, that is not characteristic for the rest part e the reservoir cost.

The paper focuses on the main adaptation measures financed in Ukraine at the expense of state and regional budgets region-wise during 2016-2018 within the framework of environmental activities. The source of data was "Environmental passports of the regions". The paper finds that during 2016-2018 the most funded items of expenditure were the construction and repair of sewerage, clearing of riverbeds, repair of water protection structures and wastewater treatment. A significant gap in the cost of measures of an adaptive nature between the regions is established. Expenditures in the Transcarpathian region, which most suffers from floods, were the lowest: they were 46 times lower than expenditures on adaptation measures in the Dnipropetrovsk region, which actively allocated funds for clearing riverbeds and strengthening the river banks. During 2016-2018, almost USD 110 million were proved to be spent on adaptation measures in Ukraine. The main source of funds were local budgets, in particular regional environmental funds. Green bonds are determined to become a promising source of funding for adaptation measures in Ukraine. For the first time, the amount of funds required for adaptation measures in Ukraine until 2050 has been partially estimated. It is proved that the only international funds that can provide funding for adaptation measures in Ukraine in late 2020, is the Global Environmental Facility.

The purpose of this study is to determine the degree of influence of rain intensity on the soil of the tested slopes of the regional forestry. The paper analyzes the results of studies conducted in the Birsk forestry in the water protection zone. The results of studies of the water permeability of the steep and hollow slopes of the forest massif are presented. After the runoff beginning and with its increase by 1 mm, the mass of washed soil on slopes with the steepness of 15 $^\circ$/ 30 $^\circ$ reaches 6.2/23.7 t/ha on cultivated lands.

During the operation of poultry farms a large amount of poultry manure is accumulated. Surface wastewater from landfills for storing poultry manure can become the main source of pollution of natural waters. Thus, one of the most important problems of environmental protection is the development of effective systems for protecting aquatic ecosystems from pollution by waste water generated at landfills for storing poultry manure. The purpose of research was the analysis of water protection systems for treatment of surface wastewater from the territory of poultry farms. The authors of the article consider the problem of protection of water bodies from contamination by surface wastewater from the catchment area of poultry farms. The example of surface wastewater from the catchment area of the poultry farm “Sverdlovskaya” has shown the negative impact on water ecosystems. Our own studies of snow contamination from the catchment area of the poultry farm have shown a high content of not only organic and biogenic substances, but also heavy metals. A biotechnology of wastewater treatment using natural ion-exchange materials, followed by bioregeneration of the latter by higher aquatic vegetation, has been developed. The use of an accumulative phytofilter is an effective method of protecting water ecosystems from contamination by surface wastewater from catchment areas of poultry farms, and the design ensures not only the environmental friendliness of the technology, but also naturally fits into the landscape of the area.

In recent years, the water quality of lakes has been deteriorating, and the water eutrophication phenomenon is particularly serious. Therefore, it is of great significance to evaluate the water eutrophication of lakes accurately to achieve water protection management. Numerous mechanistic or data-driven methods have been proposed to perform evaluations of the water eutrophication status. However, issues with these methods must still be solved, such as the use of unreasonable thresholds for the water eutrophication levels based on arbitrary numerical values and inaccurate threshold intervals in the water eutrophication evaluation criteria. To solve these problems, an integrated water eutrophication evaluation algorithm is proposed in this study. An evaluation model based on a multidimensional trapezoidal cloud model is first established, where numerical intervals are employed to characterize the thresholds of different water eutrophication levels instead of arbitrary numerical values. The Atanassov’s interval-value intuition language numbers are introduced to identify the model parameters, which are calculated based on the data of a specific lake rather than relying on inaccurate classification threshold intervals. Finally, the water quality data of Qionghai were used to validate the proposed method. Experimental results showed that this method can provide a more accurate and reasonable evaluation of water eutrophication compared with other methods.

The study is dedicated to the issue of implementing rules of sustainable development on farms. Research was conducted on 310 farms. The farm classification criterion was the education of the farm manager. Farms in four provinces were analyzed: Kujawsko-Pomorskie, Mazowieckie, Lubelskie, and Wielkopolskie. The aim was to determine the knowledge and scope of applying sustainable development in farming, depending on the farmer's education level. The research consisted of determining the importance attached by farmers, depending on their declared level of formal education, to features of a sustainable farm and advantages of this mode of management for the environment, the society, and agricultural producers themselves. It was assumed that the higher the farmer's education level, the better the familiarity with sustainable development principles and their practical application. It was found that depending on the agricultural producer's education, the importance attached to individual variables characterizing a sustainable farm varied. In terms of environmental advantages, the most important feature was water protection; among benefits for the society, safe food was considered to be of the highest significance, while for producers, the most important was a higher income. The research results did not make it possible to unambiguously state that university education determines farmers' familiarity and compliance with sustainability principles. In some cases, farmers, who had good knowledge of sustainable agricultural practices, failed to apply them in their operations.

While the role of forestry in mitigating climate change is increasingly subject to political commitment, other areas, such as water protection, may be at risk. In this study, we ask whether surface waters are sufficiently safeguarded in relation to the 2015 launch of a series of measures to intensify forest management for mitigation of climate change in Norway. First, we assess how impacts on water are accounted for in existing regulations for sustainable forestry. Secondly, we provide an overview of the impacts of forestry on water quality relevant to three support schemes: afforestation on new areas, increased stocking density in existing forests, and forest fertilisation. Lastly, we assess the uncertainties that exist with regard to surface waters in the implementation of these measures. We find that the safeguards in place are adequate to protect water resources at the point of initiation, but there is a large degree of uncertainty as to the long-term effect of these mitigation measures.

Agricultural production of biogas maize (Zea mays L.) causes hazards to aquatic ecosystems through high levels of nitrogen (N) inputs. Newly introduced and already established perennial crops such as the cup plant (Silphium perfoliatum L.) and perennial grass mixtures offer the possibility of more environmentally friendly agricultural bioenergy production. The objectives of this field study were to quantify and compare soil mineral N, water infiltration, water runoff, soil erosion and N leaching under maize, permanent cup plant, and a perennial grass mixture. The study was conducted from October 2016 to March 2019 in Braunschweig, Germany. Plots with cup plant and grass mixture exhibited lower mineral N contents than maize, especially between 30 and 90 cm soil depth. Soil water infiltration was significantly different between the three crops. The grass mixture had the highest infiltration rates (6.2 mm/min averaged across 3 years), followed by cup plant (3.6 mm/min) and maize (0.9 mm/min). During wet periods, higher N leaching was found for maize (up to 42 kg N ha−1 year−1) than for cup plant (up to 5 kg N ha−1 year−1) or the grass mixture (up to 11 kg N ha−1 year−1). While runoff and erosion for cup plant and the grass mixture were negligible during the study period, considerable amounts of runoff water and eroded sediment of up to 1.5 Mg ha−1 year−1 were collected from the maize plots despite the near flat terrain of the experimental field. Overall, permanent cup plant proved suitable as a component for energy cropping systems to reduce the risk of N leaching and soil erosion, which is particularly important for the preventive flood protection in view of the more frequent occurrence of high intensity rainfall under climate change conditions.

During the 3rd Chinese National Arctic Research Expedition cruise in the summer of 2008, nutrients (NO3, NO2, SiO32 , and PO43 ) and dissolved oxygen were measured in the western Arctic Ocean, to derive the vertical distribution of nutrient tracers and its relationship to water structure and biogeochemical processes. The nutrient data show that surface waters had the lowest NO3/PO43 (mean of 0.5) and SiO32 /PO3 (mean of 2.8) values in the water column, suggesting an excess of phosphate. Winter Bering Shelf water (wBSW) had high Si* (16.7 µmol/L; Si*=[Si(OH)4]-[NO3]) with negative N* (−11.7 µmol/L; N*=[PO43 ]-16[PO43 ]+3.5 µmol/L) in the water column, indicating nitrate deficiency. The warm Atlantic layer had positive N* (0.8 µmol/L) and negative Si* (−5.4 µmol/L) compared with Pacific source water. The vertical distribution of nutrients indicates that wBSW can be characterized by N* minimum and Si* maximum. In contrast, minima of Si* and SiO32 /PO43 below 200 m indicate the distribution of Atlantic warm water.

A prototype of an expert system for decision-making support in optimizing measures aimed to protect pilot water objects from diffuse pollution in the Volga basin was developed based on special expedition studies carried out in 2018–2019, generalized results of earlier long-term studies, improved methodological approaches, and specially developed GIS. The prototype consists of fine interrelated blocks, which can be used to evaluate the anthropogenic load from different types of pollution sources (point and diffuse) and the parameters that characterize this pollution, and describe the methods and results of diffuse runoff calculation as well as possible water protection measures, and their efficiency. The prototype of the expert system allows the users (decision makers) to evaluate the extent of diffuse pollution and to choose the priority measures to reduce its effect on pilot water objects.

Regularities in the formation of diffuse pollution of water bodies are discussed as their understanding is required for the development of an adequate water-protection strategy. The main scientific, methodological, and managerial problems of the regulation of diffuse pollution are related to the character of pollutant inputs into the environment and the complex character of the relationships between the anthropogenic impact on the drainage area and the response of a water body (changes in water quality and the environmental conditions) to such impact. The major lines and the basic principles for the implementation of the concept of reducing diffuse pollution are outlined; they are of general environmental character, but gain in importance in the context of regulation of diffuse pollution sources either in the Volga basin or in other water bodies suffering considerable effect of economic activity.

The authors of the article aim to study the evolutionary changes in methodological approaches to the formation and management of land use of water protection zones and coastal strips. As a result, four phases of land use development of water protection zones and coastal strips are considered. In particular those which took place in the following periods: 1950–1970, 1970–1990, 1990 to the present, and it is also noted that the fourth phase (period) is coming. The essence of it is to create a system of land use (formation and management) of water protection zones and coastal strips, based on environmental and socially-oriented management and institutional government support. The authors note that one of the most important principles is a comprehensive approach to the formation and management of protected land use of water protection zones and coastal strips. For this, one of the first attempts to generalize international and national experience in the development of an integrated approach is presented. And also a variety of factors that to the greatest extent accelerated the development of an integrated approach to the formation and management of land use of water protection zones and coastal zones with different levels of economic development.The authors found that the sustainable (balanced) development of land use in water protection zones and coastal zones requires solving a number of problems, which in turn are divided according to their scale. In particular, global (affects the interests of the population of the whole Earth), regional (determine the conditions of development of individual regions) and local (determine the conditions of development of specific cities, towns, territorial communities). The ratio of scales and priorities of different disciplines in the system of complex formation and management of land use of water protection zones and coastal strips is also presented, which allowed the main problems to be conditionally divided into: nature protection (or, also called — ecological); natural, social and economic. It is noted that the relationship between the level of management and the scale and priority of the problem is a methodological basis for building a vertical structure of integrated formation and management of land use of water protection zones and coastal strips