Pollutant emissions from stationary sources by volume, kilotons - 2018–2019
Substance | 2018 | 2019 |
Sulfur dioxide | 22,6 | 25,1 |
Nitrogen dioxide | 3,7 | 6,9 |
Suspended solid particulate | 52 | 55,5 |
Carbon monoxide | 18,1 | 19,7 |
Mining, thermal power generation and motor vehicle exhaust are the principal sources of air pollution in the region.
Around 75 % of all emissions from regional enterprises originate at the Sokolov-Sarbai Mining and Processing Production Association, JSC – the oblast's largest mining operation
Kazhydromet conducted periodic monitoring of the air quality in the cities of Lisakovske, Zhitikare, Arkalyke, Zarechnoe and Druzhba villages – measurements revealed pollution levels that exceed established norms.
Air pollution levels, regional residential areas – 2018-2019
Populated point | Number of air quality control posts | Pollution level | ||
2018 | 2019 | 2018 | 2019 | |
Kostanay | 4 | 4 | Elevated | Low |
Rudny | 2 | 2 | Low | Low |
Karabalyk | 1 | 1 | Low | Low |
Regional industries are working to reduce
emissions with four large enterprises lowering
emissions by the following percentages:
Varvarinskoye, JSC — 40 %
Intergas Central Asia, JSC — 8 %
TBRU, JSC— 13%
Kostanay Minerals, JSC — 2 %
The oblast's largest thermal energy plants use natural gas – a significant positive contributor to local air quality. Two exceptions are the CCGPO, JSC thermal power station and Arkalyk Thermal which uses fuel oil
Overall, in 2019, 346,000 tons of pollutants were emitted into the atmosphere, 21% of which came from industries and 79% from motor vehicle engine exhaust.
Regional air pollutant concentration exceedances of established norms – 2018-2019
Substance | Lisakovsk | Zhitikara | Arkalyk | Zarechny | Druzhba | ||
2019 | 2019 | 2019 | 2018 | 2019 | 2018 | 2019 | |
Suspended solids (dust) | 5,1 | 1,4 | - | - | 5,5 | - | 1,8 |
Nitrogen dioxide | 1 | 1,1 | 3,8 | 1,68 | 2,4 | - | 4,3 |
Sulfur dioxide | 8,2 | 3,3 | 1,3 | - | 2 | 1,03 | 2,9 |
Hydrogen sulfide | 7 | 8,6 | 2,6 | 1,41 | 4,6 | 1 | 1,9 |
Nitric oxide | 4,1 | 2,3 | 3,5 | - | 7,1 | - | - |
Ozone | 4,2 | 2 | 1 | - | 3,7 | - | - |
Regional Gasification Coverage
13 additional rural locations are set to be gasified by the close of 2021.
Year | 2018 | 2019 |
Settlements with access to natural gas | 70 | 70 |
Gas line installation | 3 602 km | 3 908 km |
Gas consumption | 870,4 million m2 | 896,2 million m2 |
Water quality monitoring of regional surface waters was carried out at 11 bodies of water.
Water quality – Surface bodies of Water in the Oblast - 2019
Class | Characteristic | Water source |
4 | Suitable only for irrigation and industrial use. Extensive treatment methods are required for household use and as drinking water. Not recommended for recreation and tourism use. | Karatorgai and Uy rivers, Jogargy Tobyl Reservoir |
5 | Suitable only in hydroelectric power generation, mining, and water transport. Not recommended for all other uses. | Ayet and Togyzak rivers, Karatomar and Amankeldy reservoirs |
>5 | Non-standardized class. Exceeds all class 5 guidelines. Lowest rated. | Tobyl, Obagan, and Zhelkouar rivers, Shortanda Reservoir |
Domestic wastewater discharge in 2018–2019
2018 | 2019 | |
Volume – wastewater discharge – 1000 m3 | 19 145 | 12 |
Volume – pollutant discharge - kt | 19 019 | 11,9 |
The region has 310 rivers and watercourses with a length of more than 10 tokilometers, 21 rivers with a length of more than 100 kilometers and two rivers with a length of more than 500 kilometers. 11 reservoirs with a total volume of more than 1490 millioncubic meters, the largest reservoirs are Verkhne-Tobolsk and Karatomarskoye.
Discharge of pollutants by enterprises - 2018–2019
2018 | 2019 | |
Volume – wastewater discharge – 1000 m3 | 46 997 | 102 |
Volume – pollutant discharge - kt | 46 711 | 102 |
Emergency and unauthorized wastewater discharges - 2018–2019 годах
2018 | 2019 | |
Volume – wastewater discharge – 1000 m3 | 7,6 | 0,01 |
Volume – pollutant discharge - kt | 39,1 | 0,006 |
Groundwater quality controls were carried out on 389 wells at 24 locations with no changes observed in either groundwater mineralization or chemical composition of a background or technogenic nature. Elevated levels of nitrogen elements were noted at some locations, a change attributed to household pollution.
Cases of elevated and extremely elevated pollution levels, regional rivers - 2019
The principal causes of pollution in regional rivers are naturally occurring events.
Jelcuar R. | Tobyl R. | Obagan R. | Ayet R. | Togyzak R. | |
Elevated pollution | 4 | 24 | 14 | 3 | 2 |
Extremely elevated pollution | - | 1 | 1 | - | - |
To reduce levels of wastewater discharge regional enterprises increase technical water reclamation and reduce groundwater intake. Mining enterprises reduce quarry water use for worksite and dumping irrigation and dust suppression.
Regional water supply and sewerage - 2018–2019
Aggregates | 2018 | 2019 |
Settlements with centralized water supply | 180 | 183 |
Settlements with decentralized water supply (wells) | 346 | 316 |
There are 379 groundwater deposits in the region with daily reserves exceeding 1 million m3. In 2019, exploration and testing procedures revealed groundwater reserves in 64 of 70 sites tested in rural areas.
The total oblast land area is 19.6 million hectares.
Distribution of land by category - thousands of hectares - 2018–2019
Category | 2018 | 2019 |
Agricultural land | 10 645 | 10 551 |
Residential land | 1 558 | 1 558 |
Land zoned for industrial, transport, communications, defense, and other non-agricultural purposes | 131 | 131 |
Protected nature preserves | 746 | 742 |
Forestland | 453 | 452 |
Surface water lands | 67 | 68 |
Undesignated Reserve Land | 6 000 | 6 097 |
Volume of distressed land and land restored for agricultural production in hectares - 2013–2019
2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 |
250 | 966 | 730 | 601 | 710 | 0 | 0 |
Distressed land in the region - 2019 (hectares)
Unusable land, unavailable due to extreme pollutant concentration and other distress | 37 793 |
Of these, restored distressed land | 13 849 |
Land seizures for land-use violations - 2018-2019
2018 | 2019 | |
Commercial land, hectares | 46,3 | 12,5 |
Agricultural land, thousands of hectares | 289 | 92,6 |
Excessive heavy metal concentrations in regional soil samples
City / settlement | Heavy metal | ||
Lead (MPC32 mg/kg) | Copper (MPC 3 mg/kg) | Zinc (MPC 23 mg/kg) | |
Kostanay | 45,54 | 5 | 15,3 |
Rudny | 30 | 30 | 22,1 |
Arkalyk | 45,2 | 14,2 | 30,2 |
Lisakovsk | 15,4 | 8,9 | 28,3 |
Zhitikara | 37,4 | 2,6 | 15 |
Varvarinka | 13,5 | 2,7 | 12 |
Subsoil use contracts - 2018–2019
Solid mineral resources
Year | 2018 | 2019 |
Mining | 18 | 18 |
Prospecting | 30 | 30 |
Mining and prospecting | 8 | 8 |
Groundwater | 5 | 6 |
Common mineral resources
Year | 2018 | 2019 |
Mining | 41 | 36 |
Prospecting | 3 | 1 |
Mining and prospecting | 1 | 1 |
Unrelated to prospecting or mining activity | 1 | 1 |
Oblast Nature Reserves
In addition to these 15 Nature Reserves, a portion of the Kyrgyz- Torgai-Zhylynshyk ecological corridor occupying an area of 2,007,582 hectares is situated within the oblast.
PA | Square |
Naurzum Nature Reserve | 191,381 gectar |
Altyn Dala Nature Reserve | 489 766 gectars |
Mikhailovsky Nature Reserve | 76 800 gectars |
Tounsor Nature Reserve | 1650 gectars |
Jarsor-Urkash Nature Reserve | 29 344,1 gectar |
10 Nature Preserves | 35,5 gectar |
11 companies are engaged in forestry management, security and cultivation in the oblast. In 2019, more than 1500 hectares of tree plantings were seeded; around 1800 kilograms of seeds were harvested for the purposes of reforestation and afforestation; over 11 million pine and birch seedlings were cultivated for seeding; around 86,000 hectares of forested area was surveyed; 196 ant colonies were relocated; 250 birdhouses were hung.
In 2019, 42 forest fires were registered in the region covering more than 2,000 hectares. In 2018, forest fires burned 1454 hectares.
Oblast forested area, hectares – 2013-2019
2013 | 219,7 |
2014 | 225,7 |
2015 | 227,1 |
2016 | 229 |
2017 | 230 |
2018 | 232 |
2019 | 241,2 |
Oblast forestlands, hectares - 2018-2019
2018 | 2019 | ||
State Forestland | Forested area | State Forestland | Forested area |
1 144 222 | 239 955 | 1 144 255 | 241 280 |
Eight eco trails have been developed and maintained in the Naurzum Nature Reserve.
In 2019, 676 kilometers of new mineralized strips were installed for forest fire prevention and a further 51,000 kilometers of existing strips were refreshed.
In 2019, 1377 raids were conducted by forest, wildlife and nature preserve departments, revealing 107 environmental violations.
Monitoring of radioactive gamma contamination of the surface layer of the atmosphere in the oblast was carried out daily at six meteorological stations located in the cities of Zhitikare, Karamendy, Karasu, Karabalyke, Kostanae, and Sarykole with four automated posts in Kostanay and Rudny. Measurements reveal that the average values of the gamma background, gamma emissions and radioactive fallout in both 2018 and 2019 were within normal limits.
Category III and IV radioactive hazards employed in industry and medical services are located within the oblast. No accidents involving radioactive materials were recorded in the oblast in 2019.
3,443,584 tons of household waste were accumulated in the region in 2019.
Solid household waste generation and processing – kilotons - 2017-2019
Five recycling processing plants producing more than 10 different types of products from recycled materials are operating in the oblast.
Year | Volume of generated waste, kilotons | Percentage of generated waste sorted & recycled |
2017 | 435 | 0,93 |
2018 | 250 | 9 |
2019 | 260 | 10,1 |
Regional industrial waste volume – kilotons -2018-2019
2018 | 2019 |
264,8 | 268,4 |
In 2019, 40% of solid waste disposal facilities conformed to environmental and sanitation requirements; in 2018, 35.6%. In 2018, environmental emission permits were issued for 34 household waste landfills; in 2019, an additional landfill permits were issued. All regional landfills are owned by registered companies or individuals.
Satellite imagery provided by Kazakhstan Garysh Sapary, JSC identifies locations of spontaneous landfills in the oblast; of these, 141 were cleaned up in 2019.
Sorting facilities for household waste have been introduced in nine oblast regions and 26 settlements at designated sorting sites at landfills. Also installed in the oblast were more than 1800 containers for sorted waste collection - plastic, glass, paper, tin products - and145 containers for the collection of obsolete mercury lightbulbs. Oblast firms engaged in the collection, utilization and processing of recyclables receive EPR program subsidies. Between 2017-2019, four enterprises received subsidies totaling 86.7 million tenge.
The oblast has one toxic waste landfill - the Kyzbel tract in the Naurzum district. In 2019, Sharua LLC installed equipment for safely shredding and recycling plastic toxic waste containers allowing a significant reduction of waste buried in the landfill.
Since 2015, an organic waste facility processing into biogas with a capacity of 0.3 MW has been in operation in the oblast.
Work is underway to construct a large 50 MW wind farm; with building scheduled to commence in 2022. The project envisions the construction of 16 windmills, each at a height of 110 meters.
There are more than 200 renewable energy facilities located in the oblast, 100 of which were installed in 2019.
Sewage treatment plants in the oblast have been in operation since 1966 and are outdated. Wastewater treatment technologies fail to meet modern standards. To keep the plants functioning, modernization work is currently underway. Currently, the issue of reconstruction and wastewater treatment facilities in 53 cities in Kazakhstan is under consideration - a project valued at 328 billion Tenge. In the Kostanay Oblast this includes facilities in the cities of Kostanay, Lisakovsk, Zhitikara and Arkalyk.