БИОРЕМЕДИАЦИЯ ПОЧВ: ВЧЕРА, СЕГОДНЯ, ЗАВТРА

The processes of self-healing and self-purification of nature are no longer sufficient to cope with pollutants that travel through the air and water into the soil and accumulate there. That is why the demand for soil decontamination technologies is growing now. The choice of a technology is determined by the surface characteristics of the contaminated area, the severity of its contamination, the conditions of soil, and the meteorological parameters, as well as by the intended use of the area. The advantages of bioremediation are associated with the ability of living systems, especially microorganisms, to metabolize a great variety of organic compounds with but a minor impact on the environment and insignificant changes in the main characteristics of soil and at a relatively low operational cost. The disadvantages of bioremediation of soils include low rates of biodegradation of toxic substances and the need for a preliminary examination of the contaminated area in order to clarify the details and modes of bioremediation works. The present paper provides some concrete examples of successful application of bioremediation technologies to soils contaminated with petroleum and chemical toxicants.