Russian Fertiliser Plant ‘Phosphorit’ Visited by Authorities Today

25 January 2012, Helsinki, Finland – The fertiliser plant ‘Phosphorit’, downstream from the town of Kingisepp in North-West Russia, will receive the Russian Director of HELCOM’s BALTHAZAR Project, Russian authorities and media to visit the plant today. The meeting will address the recent samplings on high phosphorus loads in the Luga River flowing to the Gulf of Finland.

The fact finding mission is a follow up to the HELCOM BALTHAZAR Project Steering Group Meeting, convened in St Petersburg last Wednesday on 18 January, which considered the consultant’s report on the high loads of up to 1000 tons per year from an area close to the city of Kingisepp.

“The Steering Group supported the plans of the BALTHAZAR project to immediately continue the investigation on the sources of the phosphorus load together with the responsible Russian authorities. The visit to the plant gives a good opportunity to learn about the situation and inform the public accordingly,” says the Russian Project Director, Dr. Leonid Korovin.

The visit will be followed by meetings between the Russian regional and local authorities, experts of the BALTHAZAR project as well as a representative of the Ministry of Environment of Finland.

Eutrophication is regarded as the biggest environmental problem of the Baltic Sea which is due to the long-lasting high nitrogen and phosphorus load to the sea. The Gulf of Finland is a highly eutrophicated part of the Baltic Sea. The most visible sign of eutrophication are the blue-green algae blooms, which have increased both in the Gulf of Finland and in the main basin of the Baltic Sea since the early 1990s. The excess of phosphorus is the key trigger of blue-green algal blooms.

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Background

EU-funded BALTHAZAR project supports Russia in the implementation of the Baltic Sea Action Plan, including the improvement of pollution load data contributing to HELCOM assessments. The availability of pollution load data for all coastal states is crucial to target the most cost effective measures to reduce nutrient loading in the frame of the HELCOM Baltic Sea Action Plan (BSAP). This new finding contributes important information to currently ongoing review of the BSAP nutrient reduction targets and reporting at the HELCOM Ministerial Meeting in 2013.

The Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission, usually referred to as the Helsinki Commission (HELCOM), is an intergovernmental organisation of the nine Baltic Sea coastal countries and the European Community working to protect the marine environment of the Baltic Sea from all sources of pollution and to ensure safety of navigation in the region. Since 1972 HELCOM has been the governing body of the ‘Convention on the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Baltic Sea Area’, more commonly known as the Helsinki Convention.

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For further information, please contact:

Mr. Kaj Forsius

Project Manager

BALTHAZAR / HELCOM

Tel: +358 (0)46 8509212

Fax: +358 (0)207 412 645

E-mail: kaj.forsius@helcom.fi

Mr. Leonid Korovin

St. Petersburg Public Organization "Ecology and Business"

PO. Box 66

RU-197 342 St. Petersburg

Russia

Tel: +7 812 430 6860

Fax: +7 812 430 9305

E-mail: korovinl@helcom.ru

Ms. Johanna Laurila

Information Secretary

HELCOM

Tel: +358 (0)40 523 8988

Fax: +358 (0)207 412 645

E-mail: johanna.laurila@helcom.fi