Water Conflicts and Conservation Efforts

USING WATER LIKE THERE’S NO TOMORROW

Russia has plenty of water and does not need to conserve water. What they do have is a water pollution issue. This is a legacy left over from the Soviet era. Most of Russia’s conservation efforts are going into the clean-up of polluted areas and waste water treatment.

Hetalia, a popular anime series in which the characters are the personifications of countries, has a character called Ivan who is Russia. Ivan carries around a pipe with a spigot at one end. Any time he sticks the pipe in the ground he can get water. No shortage of water in Russia. I find it interesting that this is part of Russia’s character.

This map essentially compares the usage footprint with the actual rainfall in different parts of the world. Blue areas receive more rain than is being used up by humans. Russia has plenty of freshwater.Orange or red areas indicate places where irrigation and drinking water use is drawing more water from the aquifers than the rain can refill it.(Washington Post)

CONSERVATION AND AREAS OF CONCERN

Lake Ladoga, which is just east of St. Petersburg, is Europe’s largest freshwater lake. The shores of Lake Ladoga and Lake Onega to its east have been storage sites for fertilizers, livestock waste, and chemicals, as well as radioactive military waste. Factories on the lake,  have discharged tons of heavy metals and other toxic substances into local rivers. In 1984 the Council of Ministers of USSR adopted a resolution to protect the water of Lake Ladoga and its basin. Because of this resolution, a large pulp and paper plant was forced to close.

Volga River

Water quality problems are a major problem in European Russia, especially in the Volga Basin, where about 60 million people live. Of all water withdrawn from natural sources in Russia, 33 percent comes from the Volga. About half of that water returns to the Volga as polluted discharge. The Volga’s water does not meet the current standards for drinking water and is unsuitable for fish farming or irrigation. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, numerous government committees were formed to clean up the Volga. Few of the resulting restorative programs have been implemented.

Lake Baikal, the worlds largest, deepest and oldest freshwater lake, located in south-central Siberia,has been the focal point of Soviet environmental efforts to end the pollution that the pulp and paper plants caused in the lake’s watershed. A series of comprehensive Soviet and post-Soviet plans have had  little success in protecting the lake’s water and shoreline. In 1995 the World Bank and the European Union granted funds for cleaning up Lake Baikal, and in 1996 the Gore-Chernomyrdin Commission announced United States plans to aid Russia in overhauling paper plants in the Baikal region.

Lake Baikal is one of the most biodiverse lakes on Earth, it  is home to about 1,200 species of animals and 600 different species of plants. Around 80% of all the species in the area are endemic to the lake. Lake Baikal is also home to a freshwater species of seal that is endemic to Lake Baikal. Measures have been taken to try to protect the seals, but pollution is taking its toll. Several epidemics have killed thousands of seals and it is suspected that pollution has been a major contributor.

WATER CONFLICTS

The first water war could very possibly happen in the countries just to the south of Russia. Central Asia has many water conflicts going on.

China has plans to build a canal to divert water from the Irtysh River to use in western China. The Irtysh River is a trans-boundry river that flows through Kazakhstanand into the Ob River in Russia.

Diversion of this water would affect 2.5 million people in Kazakhstan and another 1 million in parts of Siberia.

Tajikistan wants to build Dams (very big dams) on the Vakhsh River, a tributary of the Amu Darya River and another on the Syr Barya River. Both rivers feed into the Aral Sea which has already been devastated by Soviet diversion of water in past years. Both of the Dam projects would have devastating affects on the rivers as they flow into Kazakhstan,  Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan. So far,  funding for the Dams seems to be what is holding the projects back.

WHAT ROLE WILL RUSSIA PLAY IN THE FUTURE

Russia, with its wealth of water, could be a major exporter of that commodity in the future. Oil, gas and power are already exported from Russia to its neighbors. Much like the oil pipeline that runs through Russia to parts of Asia and Europe, a water pipeline could be built. This exploitation of water resources in Russia has many people very concerned. Talk of taking water from Lake Biakal for use in China is on the table, even though the Lake is designated as a World Heritage site. In February 2004, the Russia government drafted a new Water Code, allowing private ownership of rivers, lakes, and other water reservoirs. The government did offer one caveat, specifically stating that Baikal was not to be privatized. Deputy Minister of Economic Trade and Development Mukhamed Tsikanov has made it clear that Baikal is not for sale (RIA-Novosti, February 19, 2004).(Jamestown.org)

With much of the world facing a water crisis in the not to distant future, I see Russia as being a major power when it comes to water. They will have sole control, in Asia and Eastern Europe, of a vital resource. If the scarcity of water gets critical enough, it won’t matter if that water is polluted. In the mean time, I’m sure there are companies who will be willing to lend their expertise in cleaning up Russia’s pollution problem, for a price. Now is the time to buy stock in Russian water.

http://www.mnr.gov.ru/english/

http://www.country-data.com/cgi-bin/query/r-11390.html

http://www.worldsecuritynetwork.com/Russia/Valvo-Giovanni-/Russia-and-the-geopolitics-of-water-towards-a-new-Russian-order-in-Eurasia

seal video – http://waterengnet.com/2011/lake-baikal-the-pearl-of-siberia/

http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/754/

http://www.lakebaikal.org/Flora-and-Fauna.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2012/08/10/where-the-worlds-running-out-of-water-in-one-map/

http://rt.com/business/russia-water-export-supply

http://www.jamestown.org/single/?no_cache=1&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=30480