MONITORING THE TECHNICAL STATE OF BANK PROTECTION FACILITIES OF VOLGOGRAD RESERVOIR

Purpose: monitoring the ecological state of the bank zone of the reservoir left side and studying the technical state and operability of the bank protection elements. Materials and methods. The study was conducted using archival material describing the dynamics of bank abrasion, modern publications reflecting the results of scientific research of the reservoir water area in related specialties, photo recording materials during annual route surveys, and included a visual study of the geological structure of the bankline. Results. Continuous and unfading over time abrasive transformation of the reservoir left bank with irreversible withdrawal of residential, agricultural and forest lands has been stated. The most negative environmental manifestations include: deterioration of water quality, constant increase in water losses thanks to evaporation after the increase of the reservoir area due to the ineffective operation of the engineering bank protection elements, accumulation, deep and alongshore movement of destroyed bank material, which complicates the work of water intake structures. Conclusions. Monitoring studies of changes in the technical condition of various types of bank protection have established a decline in their performance over seven years depending on the category of importance: reinforced concrete slabs and blocks are the most stable structure with a rating of “operative”; gabions with stone filler – “inoperative”; rock fill – “conditionally operative”. It has been established that local, intermittent bank protection, regardless of the structure category of importance, does not ensure long-term abrasive resistance of the left bank, this affects negatively the hydrological, hydrochemical and hydrobiological regimes of the reservoir.