The Institute of Ecological Problems of the North (Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences) has developed scientific fundamentals for monitoring discharge and emission of pollutants in Pulp and Paper industry and has suggested basic measures for pollution abatement. An advanced and highly informative system has been created for complex pollution control, which is based on the selection and justification of the unified indices for pollution control: COD, BOD, AOX, suspended solids, total nitrogen, phosphorous, sulphur, and nitrogen oxides.

The developed system has successfully been tested at the leading forestry enterprises of Russia. The following directions have been addressed: analysis of the technologies and equipment utilized; the environmental management system assessment; the water supply and water discharge systems examination; pollutant discharge indicators estimated by the selected priority indices for separate production areas and integrally over the production facility; comparison of the actual data gathered at the forestry enterprises with the standards established by the directives of the European Community; and action plan development to meet the standards.

It has been established that the actual data on eight of ten priority indices are in compliance with the standards recommended by the European Community.