ISSN 00978078, Water Resources, 2010, Vol. 37, No. 5, pp. 711–726. © Pleiades Publishing, Ltd., 2010.

Original Russian Text © A. P. Demin, 2010, published in Vodnye Resursy, 2010, Vol. 37, No. 5, pp. 617–632.

WATER RESOURCES DEVELOPMENT:

ECONOMIC AND LEGAL ASPECTS

Water Management Complex of Russia:

Concept, State of the Art, and Problems
A. P. Demin
Water Problems Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, ul. Gubkina 3, Moscow, 119333 Russia
Received June 29, 2009

Abstract—The structure of the water management complex of the Russian Federation is discussed. The main
features showing the degree of meeting the demands for water in different spheres of economic activities are
presented. The tendencies for variations in volumes of water use are revealed in housing facilities and public
utilities, manufacturing and extractive branches of industry, electric power engineering, and agriculture. The
article shows the present condition of fishery in inland water bodies, river craft and the infrastructure of inland
water and aquatic water transport, and recreation.

Keywords: water management complex, water use, water supply, wastewater, water quality.
DOI: 10.1134/S0097807810050118

the low efficiency of the State water management

The world economy restructuring, which is jeopar
dized by the global water crisis, contributes to the for
mation of extremely favorable conditions for countries
having sufficient water resources, because the growth
of demand and costs of waterconsuming production
is inevitable. It is believed that water resources make
up the main advantage of Russia in the socalled post
petroleum period; Russia ranks second in the world in
its water resources [10]. In order to take this advan
tage, radical updating and development of the water
management complex of Russia are necessary.
Currently, the main problems facing the water
management complex are the following:
the unsatisfactory condition of domestic and
drinking water supply, which is caused by the low qual
ity of supplied water, the insufficient development of
centralized water supply systems, and the poor state of
the existing water supply networks;
wasteful water use at a high specific water con
sumption per unit of production and wasteful water
use to meet domestic and drinking water requirements
of urban population;
poor water quality in water objects, which is caused
by improper operation of water treatment facilities
and considerable amount of pollutants entering the
water objects with wastewater and surface runoff from
watersheds;
considerable material loss incurred by the adverse
effect of water as a result of poor technical condition of
protection structures, insufficient maintenance and
preventive measures, spontaneous construction of
buildings in floodhazardous areas, and unsatisfactory
quality of runoff prediction;
system as a result of frequent reorganizations of the
management structure, considerable reduction of
financing of research and designing programs;
poor technical condition of basic reserves of the
water management complex as a result of the invest
ment activity decline, when reproduction of the fixed
capital on a simple scale cannot be ensured;
imperfect legislation base, lack of the proper eco
nomic mechanism of rational water use, adherence to
outdated standards of water consumption in branches
of the economy and in housing facilities and public
utilities.
In the 1970s–1980s, there was a clear distinction
between the notions of water management complex and
water management. By the water management com
plex was meant a “group of enterprises of different
branches of the national economy jointly using water
resources of one water basin,” i.e., users of the water
management branch [1, 19]. A classification of water
management complexes according to their territorial
subordination (interstate, state, zonal, basinwide, and
part of basins), the types of structure, and the number
of participants is given in [14].
By the term water management was meant a
“branch of science and technology covering the
account, studies, use, and conservation of water
resources as well as control of adverse effect of water,”
or “a sphere of activities responsible for water
resources management with a view to meet the
demands of population and national economy for
water, to ensure rational use of water resources and
their protection from pollution and depletion, to
ensure operation of water management systems, as
well as to prevent and eliminate the adverse effect of

711
712 DEMIN
water” [1]. In this context, that was the branch of
economy aimed at meeting the demands of users for
water of proper quality [19, 37].
Later on, these notions started linking up. Accord
ing to [26], the notion of water management complex is
treated much wider: “the water management complex
of Russia is a combination of economic branches, nat
ural and manmade water objects represented by tens
of thousands hydraulic engineering objects, water
withdrawal and water discharge structures, liquid
waste storage tanks with head hydraulic equipment.
The water management complex is based on the sys
tems of flow regulation and territorial redistribution,
sectoral water management systems, structures pro
tecting from adverse effect of water.” In its turn, the
following definition is offered in [9]: “water manage
ment refers to infrastructural branches of economy; it
ensures the fulfillment of some conditions necessary
for production, work of other branches… This is the
branch ‘output.’ As for the ‘input,’ the water manage
ment refers to natureexploiting, resourceusing
branches, because all processes occurring in this
branch are based on the use of water objects and the
natural resource provided by them, i.e., water…”
Thus, the water management complex can be rep
resented as a complex of branches and production
facilities, which consists of water supply and water
consumption systems. The water supply system
includes water reserves integrating all water objects
and water management industry, including channel
structures responsible for flow formation, regulation,
and territorial redistribution, the recovery of water
resources as well as water intake structures and struc
tures meant for protection from adverse effect of water.
The water consumption system includes structures
meant for technological–biological and dailylife
water use and its improvement as well as structures for
wastewater treatment and disposal.
As follows from the Russian Register of Hydraulic
Engineering Structures, the water management com
plex of the Russian Federation includes more than
65000 hydraulic structures, the greater part of which is
represented by water head structures of small and
mediumsized reservoirs and 37 large water manage
ment systems, which are used for interbasin river flow
redistribution from waterabundant areas to water
deficient areas. The total length of water transfer
canals on the territory of Russia exceeds 3000 km, the
volume of transferred flow approximates 17 km3. In
order to regulate the river flow in Russia there were
constructed more than 30000 reservoirs and ponds of
the total storage capacity exceeding 800 km3, includ
ing 2290 reservoirs each more than 1 million m3 in
storage capacity; among them 110 reservoirs are large,
the storage capacity of each exceeding 100 million m3.
Flood control dikes and funds more than 10000 km in
length were constructed to protect residential areas,
objects of the national economy, and agricultural land
areas of the country. Inland waterways of the Russian
Federation are provided with 723 navigation hydraulic
engineering structures, including 120 locks [4]. In the
author’s opinion [35], the cost estimate of the fixed cap
ital of the water management complex of Russia, which
is equal to 2% of the total capital assets of all the types of
economic activities, is significantly underestimated.
Water consumption systems of the water manage
ment complex include water supply and water disposal
for population and branches of the national economy,
land reclamation and related hydraulic structures,
hydropower engineering, water transport, timber raft
ing, fishery, public health, and aquatic recreation.
Land reclamation and related hydraulic structures
involve irrigation and drainage operations, the imple
mentation of measures aimed at eliminating the
adverse effect of water: flood control, water erosion
control, mudflow control, landslide and bank erosion
control, as well as land bogging and soil salinization
control [14, 38].
The notion of water user established by the Water
Code implies a natural or legal person, who is
entrusted with the right to use a water object. Water
users may be arbitrarily divided into two groups: per
sons involved in irrevocable water consumption,
which is connected with a specific technological pro
cess; persons, who do not withdraw water from a water
object but their activities need maintaining of definite
water levels, discharges, and quality in a water object.
Given below is conventional distribution of partici
pants of the water management complex by groups
(Table 1) [19].
Water consumption includes not only water use by
users but also evaporation and seepage water losses
from reservoirs and canals. From the standpoint of
water resource use and conservation, the production
activity of water users is characterized by:
total water consumption, i.e., the sum of with
drawn fresh and recycled water; this volume of water
passes through technological shops of plants per unit
time (year, day, hour);
withdrawal of fresh water (or sea water), i.e., water
withdrawal from a water object;
withdrawal of recycled water, i.e., water withdrawal
from the recycling water system;
water disposal, i.e., water discharge into a water
object;
irrevocable water consumption, i.e., withdrawal of
fresh water minus water disposal;
the amounts of discharged pollutants, i.e., the
amount of pollutant components controlled in dis
charged water minus the content of these substances in
water withdrawn from a source;
thermal pollution, i.e., the quantity of heat enter
ing a water object, which is determined by the flow rate
of discharged water and by the temperature rise in dis
charged water as compared to the temperature of with
drawn water.
WATER RESOURCES Vol. 37 No. 5 2010
 WATER MANAGEMENT COMPLEX OF RUSSIA
Table 1. Subdivision of participants of water management complex into water consumers and water users [19]
Water consumers
Urban public utilities
Industry,
including thermal power engineering and nuclear power Timber rafting
engineering
Agriculture
Water supply of rural residential areas and animal breed Aquatic recreation
ing farms
Land irrigation
Water supply of pastures
Moistening of drained lands
Moisture retention
Pond fishery
Beginning in 2005, the elaboration of summary sta
tistics of water use monitoring according to form
no. 2standart (water management) was started in the
context of the branch on the basis of the AllRussian
Classifier of Economic Activity Types, which substi
tuted the AllUnion Classifier of National Economy
Branches. The possibilities of correlation of summary
data, which are obtained on the basis of these classifi
ers, are limited; therefore, it makes the formation of
long statistical series in the sectoral context difficult.
The largest water users among the participants of
the water management complex are branches related
to production and distribution of gas, electric power,
and water; in 2007, their share in water use was 66%
(Table 2) [4]. The share of water use by the following
branches is far below this value: agriculture, hunting,
and forestry (16%), manufacturing industry (10%),
fishery and fish farming (3%), and extraction of min
eral resources (2%). All other types of economic activ
ities account for 2–3%. Under the present conditions,
the largest water user is subdivided into two subtypes of
economic activity: power engineering and gas supply
(49.4% of total water use in Russia) and collection,
treatment, and distribution of water (16.4%). The lat
ter subtype of activity mainly characterizes the work of
public and large industrial water supply systems but it
is noticeably exceeded in scale by the former branch of
housing facilities and public utilities.
The important feature typical of participants of the
water management complex is the difference in
requirements on the regime of a water source in time.
Under the condition of insufficient water resources,
limitations of the design water supply probability come
into force.
WATER RESOURCES Vol. 37 No. 5 2010
713
Water users
Hydropower engineering
Water transport
Fishery of inland water bodies
Aquatic and onshore ecosystems (environmental protection releases)
Public health (sanitary releases)
Drained lands
Floodplain meadow culture
HOUSING FACILITIES AND PUBLIC
UTILITIES
Part of the housing facilities and public utilities,
which is related to water supply and disposal in popu
lated areas, public utilities, and partially industrial
enterprises, refers to water supply and sewerage sys
tems. As of the end of 2007, 31% of all the populated
areas of Russia was provided with centralized water
supply systems and only 6% of these areas was pro
vided with centralized sewerage systems. The popu
lated areas provided with the systems mentioned above
included 100 and 98% of towns, 96 and 81% of settle
ments, 30 and 5% of villages, respectively. The length
of street water supply network in populated areas of
Russia is 331 700 km, including 145300 km in urban
areas (44%). The capacity of water supply systems
reaches 89700000 m3/day, towns and villages con
sume 73 million m3/day (81%) (Table 3).
At present, the technical condition of water supply
and sewerage system is assessed as critical: the wear of
main equipment varies from 50 to 70%, the degree of
wear annually increasing by 2–3%. In particular, the
wear of water supply networks exceeds 65%, the wear
of sewerage networks is 62%, the wear of water supply
pumping stations is 65%, the wear of sewerage pump
ing stations is 57%, the wear of water treatment struc
tures is 54%, and the wear of sewerage treatment struc
tures is 56%.
According to the data of the year 2005, 24.4% of
housing facilities of Russia has no water pipelines and
28.5% of housing facilities has no centralized sewerage
lines. The number of new water supply systems put
into operation in recent years is very low and in com
parison with 1990, it has decreased five times. The
share of water supply from groundwater sources (most
 Table 2. Main characteristics of water supply for sectors of economic activities in the Russian Federation, million m3 [4] (dash means no data available)
714

Water withdrawal Fresh water use

from natural sources Water used in
including for needs of
Transportation recycling and reuse
Type of production Year
including from total water losses (sequential) systems
total for all domestic and of water supply
groundwater production irrigation
needs drinking
sources
Total for Russia 2004 79361 – 63337 36344 12785 7673 8092 135014
2005 79472 – 61335 36544 12301 7735 7963 135463
2006 79273 – 62153 37349 11995 8158 8044 142597
2007 79985 – 62506 38015 11627 8369 7897 144386
Production and distribu 2005 41437 – 39048 29051 92701 20 2345 65144
tion of electric power, gas, 2006 43027 5219 40468 30380 9338 24 2472 80151
and water
2007 43287 5294 41114 31208 9166 27 2312 81636
Agriculture, hunting, and 2005 18525 – 9560 175 571.4 7510 4766 605
forestry 2006 18715 1030 9695 163 443.3 7888 4893 664
2007 18875 837 9759 168 390 8107 4869 573
Manufacturing industry 2005 6475 – 6038 5120 750 27 127 48340
2006 6316 883 6248 5421 683 19 105 50083
DEMIN

2007 6613 868 6118 5303 651 15 97 50151

Extraction of mineral re 2005 3078 – 1842 1147 115 0 21 11629
sources 2006 2569 1883 1406 675 113 1 21 10030
2007 2659 2007 1387 698 93 1 19 10348
Fishery and fish farming 2005 2709 – 2028 140 3 20 142 136
2006 2651 60 2013 154 3 49 150 145
2007 2619 67 1856 83 2 7 173 147
Civil engineering 2005 2227 – 45 20 20 3 260 91

WATER RESOURCES
2006 2195 140 41 15 21 3 174 10
2007 2287 149 43 16 21 3 205 16

Vol. 37
Transport and communi 2005 1979 – 311 144 152 0 19 278
cation 2006 1424 194 292 139 140 0 20 217
2007 1310 151 280 138 129 0 9 198

No. 5
Other public, social, and 2005 1388 – 610 127 456 5 126 49
personal services 2006 1260 179 584 123 441 5 131 38

2010
2007 1224 212 575 127 426 6 123 33
 WATER MANAGEMENT COMPLEX OF RUSSIA 715

Table 3. Water supply residential areas of Russia during 1995–2007 [23]

Indices 1995 2000 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007
Individual length of street water pipeline network,
thou. km
including 305.8 324.1 334.4 335.3 332.8 334.3 331.7
in rural area 128.5 139.7 144.3 147.2 145.5 148.4 145.3
in rural area 177.3 184.4 190.1 188.1 187.3 185.9 186.4
Water pipeline capacity, million m3/day, including
including 90.3 89.0 88.3 87.9 88.9 88.9 89.7
in rural area 71.8 70.6 71.3 71.4 72.4 72.7 73.1
in rural area 18.5 18.4 17.0 16.5 16.5 16.2 16.6
Water passing through treatment facilities in total 52 55 58 59 59 59 59
volume of delivered water, %
including
in rural area 60 65 63 63 63 62 62
in rural area 12 17 14 14 23 21 20
Mean daily water amount delivered to one dweller, l 303 247 224 212 200 184 179
including
in rural area 332 288 268 257 244 225 218
in rural area 202 131 100 88 81 73 72

protected from pollution) is less than 40% of the total
amount of water supplied to water mains, which is
much lower than in the majority of European coun
tries. The worst situation among the Federal regions is
observed in the Siberian region, where more than 30%
of housing facilities is not provided with water pipe
lines and more than 36% of housing facilities has no
sewerage lines.
Water withdrawal from surface water sources is not
provided with the necessary complex of treatment
facilities, which ensure complete disinfection and
decontamination. About 60% of the total number of
water withdrawal structures within centralized systems
of water supply is provided with primary treatment and
water conditioning equipment. The mean value of
water losses in water supply networks of Russia
exceeds 19% of the water volume delivered into the
networks. The specific domestic water consumption in
countries of Western Europe approximating 150 l/day
per capita, while in Russia it exceeds 200–500 l/day
per capita. However, Finnish specialists have revealed
that urban population of Russia does not consume as
much water as this amount and the main portion of
water consumption results from water leakage, for
example, from tanks of water closet pans [17].Consid
erable water losses are caused by failures. In 2006, 29
failures a year occurred in water main sections 100 km
long, which 2–3 times exceeded the values in Euro
pean countries.
The environmental condition of water bodies in
Russia is unsatisfactory. In 2007, more than 28% of
samples taken to assess the sanitary conditions of
water objects (water bodies of category 1), which were
used as sources of drinking and domestic water supply
to population, did not meet public health require
ments as to sanitary chemical indices, and more than
21% of samples did not meet these requirements as to
microbiological indices.
INDUSTRY
Due to its specific consumer property, water is
widely used in production processes of industry. Man
ufacturing industrial enterprises use water to meet dif
ferent needs but mainly for the following purposes:
from 70 to 90% of water is used as a cooling agent
meant to cool production in heat exchange appara
tuses or to protect individual elements of machinery
and devices from overheating; from 10 to 20% of water
is lost as a result of evaporation or enters into the com
position of finished products; from 5 to 13% of water is
used for removing admixtures (steel passivation, tex
tile cleaning, foodstuff cleaning, etc.) from products
or raw materials; this water is also used as transporting
medium for transportation of moist pulp in suspension
in pulp and paper industry, hydraulic mining of coal
and ore mineral resources.
Over the last years, the output of manufacturing
branches of industry in Russia significantly increased
(by 8–9%) but the volumes of water use changed insig
nificantly. In 2006, the volume of freshwater use
increased (by 3.5%), the volume of water used in water
recycling systems also increased (by 3.6%). In 2007,
the volume of freshwater use decreased to some extent

WATER RESOURCES Vol. 37 No. 5 2010

716 DEMIN
but the volume of recycled water use slightly increased.
Water saving due to the systems of water recycling and
reuse in manufacturing branches of industry is 90.2–
90.4%. Over the period of two last years, the discharge
of polluted wastewater into water sources decreased by
13% and the amount of wastewater treated according
to standards decreased by 17%. The largest water con
sumers in manufacturing branches of industry are the
following: pulp and paper production, publishing and
printing activity; production of coke, petroleum prod
ucts, and nuclear materials; chemical industry; metal
lurgical industry. These four types of economic activi
ties (out of 13 types of manufacturing industry)
account for 69% of the volume of used water and for
81% of the amount of discharged polluted water.
The methods used in the extraction of mineral
resources can be conventionally subdivided into two
groups: methods of mining of coal and ore mineral
resources and methods of petroleum and gas produc
tion. The most widespread method of mining of coal
and ore mineral resources is hydraulic mining, which
stipulates the attack of orebearing rocks by a water jet
at high pressure. Orebearing rocks get crushed and
mixed with water; the pulp thus formed is pumped out
by special pumping stations and then filtrated. As for
the methods of petroleum and gas production, water is
pumped into the petroleumgasbearing stratum
through special boreholes in order to raise the pressure
of petroleum and gas and to increase the yield of
petroleum or gas well. As a rule, this method is used in
case of secondary and succeeding petroleum and gas
production in oil fields.
In 2005–2007, the index of product output of the
branch “Extraction of mineral resources” increased
insignificantly (by 1.5–2.5%), while the main indices
of water use showed a considerable decrease. The total
volume of fresh water used in 2007 decreased by 25%
in comparison with the year 2005, the volume of water
used in the systems of water recycling and sequential
water reuse decreased by 11%, the index of freshwater
saving increased from 91.0 to 93.7%. The volume of
wastewater and collecting drainage water discharges
decreased by 379 million m3 (20%) mainly due to the
decrease of discharges of water treated to standard
quality. Over the period of two years, the volume of
polluted water increased by 5.4%, while the volume of
water of water treated to standard quality remained as
before.
The main method of water treatment at enterprises
is still mechanical method, which does not provide the
required water quality in conformity with the estab
lished standards of maximum permissible discharges.
The low degree of detection and treatment of harmful
substances, which is associated with extraction of
mineral resources (36% against 75% in Russia, on the
average) depends on the fact that waste discharge
sources of mining enterprises are generally disorga
nized. Part of wastewater of these enterprises is dis
charged onto land surface or filtration beds and into
impounding basins and underground horizons.
THERMAL POWER ENGINEERING
Electric power engineering is one of the main
branches of the country’s national economy. The basic
product of this branch is electric power; to generate it,
two types of power plants are used: thermal power
plants (condensation power plants, heat and electric
power plants, nuclear power plants) and hydraulic
power plants (hydropower plants and hydraulic accu
mulation power plants). Electric power engineering
ranks first in the volumes of water withdrawal from
natural water sources and its use. In 2007, the volume
of water used by this branch exceeded 49% of the total
volume of water use for economic activities. Power
plants have an adverse effect on water resources, it is
caused by the following three processes: water with
drawal for production and other needs; wastewater
discharge into surface water objects; pollution of sur
face water objects.
There are three types of thermal power plants: con
densation power plants, in which waste steam after
passing through a turbine is cooled, condensed and
then it again enters a boiler; heat and electric power
plants, in which waste power is used for heating;
nuclear power plants which operate on the same prin
ciple as condensation power plants but differ in the
types of fuel used (nuclear fuel instead of organic fuel).
Water use is an important factor in operation of all
thermal power plants. Water is used at the thermal
power plants for the following purposes: generation of
steam in boilers, steam generators, boiling water
nuclear reactors, evaporators, and steam converters;
condensation of waste stream from turbines; cooling
of different equipment and devices of thermal power
plants and nuclear power plants; production of heating
water. The major portion of water is used for cooling
turbine condensers. Two types of water supply are used
at thermal power plants: oncethrough systems and
sequential water reuse and recycling systems. In 2006,
the designing of oncethrough water supply systems
was prohibited by the Water Code of the Russian Fed
eration (Clause 60).
Wastewater can be discharged directly into natural
sources or into manmade cooling basins, water cool
ing towers. The greater part of the volume of wastewa
ter from power plants is represented with cooling
water, which refers to the category of “standardqual
ity water”. The temperature of wastewater from ther
mal power plants is higher than in water objects. Warm
water cannot be discharged directly into natural water
sources, otherwise the socalled “thermal pollution of
water sources” is inevitable; it results in the growth of
algae, a decrease in oxygen content of water, and death
of organisms inhabiting water bodies. Moreover, in the
course of operation of thermal power plants, the fol
lowing admixtures enter the water: chemicals, which
WATER RESOURCES Vol. 37 No. 5 2010
 WATER MANAGEMENT COMPLEX OF RUSSIA
are used in treatment facilities, as well as petroleum
products, oils, components of ash, slag, and the like.
After overcoming the crisis in this branch, power
generation grows from year to year. Over the period of
2005–2007, the most intense power generation was
recorded at thermal power plants (11.0%), at nuclear
power plants (10.3%), and only 0.6% of total electric
power was generated by hydropower plants. In 2007,
water withdrawal to meet the needs of the electric
power engineering was more than 30 km3 (the share of
gas is insignificant) and exceeded the value in the year
2005 by 5.6%, the volume of water used increased by
6.8%. The growth of water use from the systems of
water recycling and sequential water reuse resulted in
the growth of freshwater saving from 70.2 to 73.3%.
Unfortunately, a noticeable increase in the adverse
effect on water objects is observed. The discharge of
polluted wastewater increased by 9.4%, while the dis
charge of wastewater treated according to standards
decreased by 27.5%.
HYDROPOWER ENGINEERING
Russia is known for its great hydropower potential;
it ranks second in the world after China in this respect.
The economic hydropower potential of the country
exceeds 850 billion KWh. However, only 20% of this
potential is used, while the degree of development of
this potential exceeds 90% in France and Switzerland,
70% in Canada and Norway, and 50% in the United
States and Brazil. As to the installed capacity of hydro
power plants and power generation by these plants,
Russia ranks fifth in the world [28]. However, the share
of power generated by hydropower plants does not
exceed 18% of the total electric power generated in
Russia, while hydropower plants of 65 countries of the
world generate more than 50% of the consumed elec
tric power, including 24 countries, where this value
exceeds 90% [32]. The poor development of the
hydropower potential in Russia results from the fact
that power consumers are well off the main sources of
hydropower, 90% of which is concentrated in rivers of
Siberia and Far East. The basins of the following four
rivers account for about 80% of electric power poten
tial: the rivers of Yenisei (288 billion kWh), Lena
(235 billion kWh), Ob (94 billion kWh), and Volga
(56 billion kWh). The degree of development of the
economic hydropower potential differs essentially
from region to region of the country: from 2% in West
ern Siberia to 74% in the Volga economic regions. The
idea of multipurpose water resource use usually
needed the development of the hydropower potential
of large and medium rivers through the construction of
chains of hydropower plants. The construction of
chains of hydropower waterworks permitted gradual
and planbased development of river water resources
with regard to the increasing need of these rivers in
flow regulation. The priority of construction was
defined on the basis of schemes of multipurpose use
WATER RESOURCES Vol. 37 No. 5 2010
717
and conservation of water resources. Chains of hydro
power plants were constructed in the rivers of Volga,
Kama, Yenisei, Angara, Kuban, Sulak, Neva, Kem,
Svir; and in other rivers. None of the chains of hydro
power plants was constructed to meet only electric
power needs. As a rule, large hydropower projects cre
ated the basis for industrial development of areas in
question and, in some cases, large regions of the coun
try.
One of serious obstacles in the further development
of hydropower plant construction is the adverse effect
of hydropower plants on the environment (inundation
of lands, climatic changes, damage to fishery and
tourism, a possible increase in seismic activity, etc.).
As a result of reservoir construction in Russia, 4.6 mil
lion ha of lands were inundated, including 1.7 million
ha of agricultural lands and 2.2 million ha of land areas
under forests. Considerable expenditures are related to
people resettlement and relocation of enterprises. The
total number of population resettled from inundation
zones amounted 840000, including 600000 persons
resettled from welldeveloped areas along the Volga
and Kama rivers [2].
At present, the total installed capacity of hydro
power plants of Russia exceeds 46 million kW, their
annual power generation being 175–179 billion kWh.
Currently, 102 hydropower plants more than 100 MW
in capacity are in operation on the territory of Russia.
In addition to hydropower plants, hydraulic power
engineering structures include hydraulic accumula
tion power plants. The main purpose of these plants is
the redistribution of electric power that is generated by
lowmaneuver nuclear power plants and largeblock
thermal power plants within a day, the accumulation of
electric power during night “gap” in power consump
tion schedules, and power supply for the power system
during hours of “peak” loads. With this aim in view,
hydraulic accumulation power plants are equipped
with reversible hydroelectric units, which can work as
turbines or as pumps. In case of hydropower plants, an
increase in power capacity often results in inadmissi
ble expansion of inundated areas, whereas the areas
inundated for hydraulic accumulation power plants
are small and the power capacity increase can be
achieved due to pressure rise under favorable topo
graphic conditions.
Currently, there are more than 300 hydraulic accu
mulation power plants in the world, their total capac
ity approximating 100 million kW. The Kuban hydrau
lic accumulation power plant 16 MW in capacity and
the Zagorsk hydraulic accumulation power plant
1200 MW in capacity are operating in Russia. The
operation of the Zagorsk hydraulic accumulation
power plant revealed its high efficiency and, therefore,
the construction of the Zagorsk2 hydraulic accumu
lation power plant 840 MW in capacity was initiated in
2007.
The possibilities of efficient use of operating hydro
power plants in the near future are limited by the wear
718 DEMIN
of equipment, which was in operation for more than
40 years and even more than 50 years at some hydro
power plants. At present, 420 hydraulic turbogenera
tor units are in operation at 80 largest hydropower
plants of Russia; out of the mentioned number of
units, 170 units of the total capacity of about 12 mil
lion kW reached their 40year limit of operation
(including 70 units of the total capacity more than
2 million kW are in operation for more than 50 years)
and need replacement. By the year 2015, more than
70% of the available equipment of hydropower plants
will overcome the limits of its service life [2]. In addi
tion to this, the condition of many dams is unsatisfac
tory, because they have been working for more than 30
years without repair and reconstruction. It is planned
to construct 46 hydropower plants by the year 2030. It
is anticipated that the growth of electric power gener
ation at hydropower plants will mainly occur in Siberia
and Far East.
AGRICULTURE
Agriculture is one of the main water consumers
among other branches of the economy with respect to
general water withdrawal (16% of the total water use in
2007) and, particularly, irrevocable water withdrawal.
During the 1980s, the amount of fresh water used by
the agriculture of Russia was more or less stable (25–
29 km3) in spite of the noticeable growth of product
output [11]. With the advent of market relations in the
economy of Russia, the volume of fresh water use
steadily decreased from 13.6 km3 in 2000 to 11.6 km3
in 2007 (with regard to pond fish farming, which for
merly referred to agriculture).
One of the main methods of yield increase in agri
cultural land areas is land reclamation. One sixth part
of the world land areas is reclaimed and 40–50% of all
agricultural products is obtained from these lands. As
of January 1, 2008, the area of reclaimed lands in Rus
sia amounted 9.1 million ha (including 4.3 million ha
of irrigated lands and 4 million ha of drained lands), or
less than 6% of lands of agricultural organizations and
peasant farms. In the 1980s, the land reclamation sec
tor produced more than 30% of agricultural products;
at present, this value is as low as 15% [21].
About 80% of agricultural lands of the country is
located in the area of risky farming, which is charac
terized by insufficient and unsteady moistening, fre
quent droughts and dry winds resulting in a dramatic
decrease of the yielding capacity and the total yield of
agricultural products. Under these conditions, the
increase in productivity and sustainable development
of agriculture are impossible without comprehensive
land reclamation measures and the development of
adaptive landscape systems of irrigation farming. Over
the period from 1970 to 1990, the area of irrigated
lands in all categories of farming increased from 2 to
6.2 million ha. In the 1990s, the drastic decrease of
financing of this branch and a sharp reduction of
expenditures for maintaining irrigation and drainage
systems in operation were accompanied by the
destruction of the irrigation potential and conversion
of irrigated lands into the category of rainfed lands.
The land area under regular irrigation steadily
decreased and by the year 2007 it approximated
4.3 million ha.
The degree of wear of basic equipment in land rec
lamation systems and hydraulic engineering structures
reaches 60%. More than half of irrigation systems
(2.34 million ha) and a quarter of drainage systems
(1.2 million ha) need reconstruction and updating.
The greater part of main and distribution irrigation
systems is constructed in earth channels, where seep
age water losses reach 40% of the volume of water
withdrawn. Only 30% of the canal length has seepage
proof lining. Nearly 0.5 million ha (11%) of the total
area of irrigable land areas are not used in agricultural
production cycle mainly because of their salinization
and bogging. In 2007, 0.67 million ha (14%) of drained
land areas were not used owing to failures in the drainage
system covering the area of 0.31 million ha.
The area of actually irrigated lands decreased more
rapidly than the area of available irrigable lands. Dur
ing the 1970s–1980s, a considerable part of lands not
included into the category of irrigated lands (the so
called lands of initiative irrigation) was irrigated; in the
1990s, there was no means for irrigation of land areas
having stationary irrigation systems. The area of actu
ally irrigated lands in Russia generally decreased from
5 million ha at the end of the 1980s to 2.5 million ha in
2005–2007. This is caused by troubles in onfarm irri
gation systems, failures of irrigation equipment and
impossibility of its substitution, degradation of the
repair and maintenance base. In the mid1980s, 20–
21 km3 of water was used for regular and basin irriga
tion; in 2007, this value dropped to 8.4 km3 (Table 4).
This resulted from a dramatic decrease in irrigated
areas and reduction of specific water consumption.
Agricultural water supply systems are aimed at
meeting drinking water needs of population, domestic
animals, and workers of manufacturing and services
sectors of the agroindustrial complex of the country.
From 1980 to 1990, the volume of water used for these
needs increased more than twice. In the years that fol
lowed, this value considerably decreased in connec
tion with a dramatic reduction of livestock in the social
sector. In addition to this, public services area
intensely developing in rural areas in recent years; as a
consequence, conventional redistribution of water
used by rural population from the category of “rural
water supply” into the category of “domestic and
drinking needs” occurred. Thus, the volume of water
used for domestic and drinking needs in the branch
“agriculture” increased in Russia generally from 80–
90 million m3 in the mid1990s to 400 –600 million m3
in 2005–2007.
Agricultural water supply is mainly based on
groundwater sources, their share in the total volume of
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 WATER MANAGEMENT COMPLEX OF RUSSIA 719

Table 4. Water used for irrigation and agricultural water supply, million m3 [4, 11]
Federal region 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2006 2007
Irrigation
Central 292 750 368 146 84 39.9 24.9 25.2
Northwestern 1.2 11.2 10.4 4.3 3.6 1.8 0.9 0.9
Southern 14623 14664 12790 9091 8303 7258 7691 7810
Region adjoining the Volga R. 2290 2992 1569 1188 356 194 182 260
Urals 179 301 217 53.8 19.8 9.3 6.4 6.3
Siberian 775 928 948 477 337 209 209 216
Far Eastern 368 685 492 182 78 23.3 44.4 50.3
Russian Federation 18528 20331 16394 11141 9181 7735 8158 8369
Agricultural water supply
Central 397 689 854 778 337 168 131 122
Northwestern 150 193 208 143 48.5 22.2 20.0 19.2
Southern 850 1234 1248 1014 373 234 200 184
Region adjoining the Volga R. 177 826 876 861 283 130 111 97
Urals 132 221 211 149 51 35.2 35.7 32.9
Siberian 222 531 624 510 247 114 108 101
Far Eastern 36 111 105 61.3 38.9 38.1 40.1 39.7
Russian Federation 1964 3805 4126 3517 1378 743 646 596

water use approximating 85%. In 2007, 30% of rural
settlements had centralized water supply, the area of
rural dwellings with piped water reached 43%. The
majority of rural population takes drinking water from
wells, individual boreholes, and springs [15]. The con
dition of most of local water supply systems is far from
satisfactory: 55% of them needs technological updat
ing, more than 30% needs reconstruction. Group
water supply systems were constructed in water defi
cient regions, where water was mainly withdrawn from
surface water sources and then supplied over large dis
tances. At present, the wear of group water supply sys
tems reaches 70% [27]. In 2007, the length of rural
water pipelines was 187000 km, or 4.9 m per one
dweller (as follows from the modern practice, it should
be 12–15 m). Some regions have no groundwater suit
able for drinking, and the population of these regions
is supplied with drinking water imported from other
regions.
Local water pipelines are used by agricultural
enterprises, which are unable to maintain these sys
tems in satisfactory sanitary state. The operation of
group water supply systems is carried on at higher
technological level, because they are maintained by
specialized water management organizations. After
the year 1990, the volumes of work in construction and
reconstruction of water supply systems and water
boreholes decreased 15–20 times. Only beginning in
1999, the construction of group water supply systems
significantly increased; modernization of equipment
for natural water treatment was carried out in some
water supply systems; inventory of group water supply
systems owned by the Federation was drawn up.
Polluted wastewater result from operation of public
utilities, animal husbandry and agricultural produc
tion facilities. At present, only 5% of rural settlements
has sewerage systems. Only 60–70% of wastewater of
rural areas is treated at wastewater treatment structures
[23]. The bulk of wastewater is discharged onto filtra
tion beds thus causing groundwater level rise and soil
pollution. Wastewater of animal husbandry facilities,
which in fact do not undergo any treatment, cause
great damage to the natural water quality and environ
ment. The main part of return water of agroindustrial
complexes is represented with drainage collector
waters from irrigated lands (3.2–3.5 km3/year), which
are referred to the category of waters treated to stan
dard quality. In fact, the bulk of these waters is polluted
with toxic chemicals, nitrogenous and phosphorus
compounds, and mineral substances. At present, these
waters do not undergo any treatment.
A Federal goaloriented program was developed to
improve soil fertility and to ensure the comprehensive
solution of problems related to rational use and regen
eration of water resources [36]. The program stipu
lated the implementation of the following measures:
the conservation and restoration of water resources,
the construction and reconstruction of land reclama
tion and water management projects, the provision of
troublefree flood passing through hydraulic struc
tures, and agricultural afforestation in agricultural
land areas.

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720 DEMIN
Human activities related to water resources man
agement under dry farming conditions sometimes lead
to a considerable decrease in river water runoff; there
fore, dry farming is included into the group of water
consumers. Intense agricultural practices, the organi
zation of field protective forest strips, special agro
technical method meant to detain moisture in soil
(deep fall plowing, high stubble left after harvesting,
snow detention, and contour plowing) result in an
increase in soil moisture, moisture capacity, and crop
yields and, hence, in a decrease in surface flow dis
charge into water receivers. According to the assess
ments of N.I. Koronkevich, under the impact of agro
technical methods and agricultural afforestation “the
river water runoff decrease in the entire Russian Plain
was less than 5 km3/year, including the Volga River
water runoff decrease equaling 2 km3/year” [16].
FISHERY
Fishery in the Russian Federation is a complex
economic sector, which covers a wide spectrum of
activities from the prediction of the source of raw
materials to the organization of fish product trade.
From the early 1990s, the fishery complex of the coun
try faced a crisis situation. From 1990 to 2007, the
yield of aquatic biological resources in Russia decreased
more than twice (from 7.88 to 3.42 million t) [29]. Over
the last 20 years, the share of inland water bodies
accounted for 7–8% in the total yield of aquatic bio
logical resources. From 2000 to 2007, fish catch in
inland water bodies decreased from 292000 to 250000 t,
i.e., by 14%.
Inland seas are water bodies of the greatest fishery
importance. The fish productivity of these water bod
ies is closely related to river water flow, whose value
and distribution within a year have a perceptible effect
on the hydrological regime in river spawning pools, the
area of desalinized zones of seas, biogenic runoff, and
food supply. The most valuable fishery water body is
the Caspian Sea. The considerable reserves of stur
geon, the yield of which accounts for about 90% of the
world yields of this fish, made the water body unique.
However, the yields of sturgeon in Russia only
decreased from 18000–20000 t in the early 1980s to
470 t in 2000. From 2005, the commercial yield of
sturgeon has been completely terminated. At present,
the catch of this valuable fish for reproduction and
research purposes does not exceed 100 t. The main
reasons that have caused the dramatic decrease in fish
yield are the following: the disregard of applications of
fishery agencies for the volume and regime of water
releases from the Volgograd Reservoir; the loss of
spawning areas in the Volga–Akhtuba floodplain;
overgrowing and silting of fishpass canals, which are
not regularly cleaned; poor food supply; large amount
of pollutants carried by the Volga River into the sea.
Russia ranks first in the world in the number of
water bodies of fishery importance. The total of
22.5 million ha under lakes, 4.3 million ha under res
ervoirs, about 1 million ha under agricultural water
bodies of multipurpose use, 142900 ha under ponds,
and 523000 km of river length are owned by the Fed
eration. The main resources of inland water bodies are
concentrated in the Siberian, Ural, Northwestern, and
Far Eastern Federal regions. At the same time, no
more than 5–6% of these water bodies is now used for
aquaculture development.
The rivers of fishery importance include rivers
meant for fishing and rivers meant for reproduction of
fish resources. The lower reaches of the rivers of Volga
and Don, the rivers of Siberia (Ob, Yenisei, Lena, and
Yana), East and Northwestern part of Russia, the river
basins of Northern Dvina and Pechora are most
important for fishing and reproduction of fish
resources. The total length of rivers used for fishing is
about 200000 km [32]. Fishery areas of many reser
voirs offer some advantages due to their location in the
vicinity of populated settlements having developed
infrastructure and agriculture. The share of large res
ervoirs in the recorded water bodies of fishery impor
tance is 3.2 million ha, or 75% of the total area of all
these water bodies.
During 2006–2007, a noticeable decrease in fish
yield occurred in the Ob–Irtysh river basin and in
Lake Baikal. Of all the reservoirs, the most fish yield
ing is the Tsimlyansk Reservoir, where the fish yield
exceeds the total fish yield of the rest four largest res
ervoirs (Table 5).
A considerable damage to the fishery is caused by
uncontrolled fishing and poaching. The most severe
damage was caused by poaching to the sturgeon popu
lation of the basins of the Sea of Azov, the Black and
Caspian seas. During the economic crisis, poaching all
over the water area of sturgeon habitat (except Iran)
became the governing factor in the sturgeon popula
tion decline; it happened in Russia and in contiguous
states of Ukraine, Turkey, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan,
and Turkmenistan. According to [18], “the scope of
illegal sturgeon fishing exceeds many times the actual
fish catch; the experts’ appraisal reveals that fish catch
by poachers exceeds the legal fish catch nearly
10 times.”
The pond reserves, which include feeding and
nursery areas, constitute material and technological
basis for pond fish culture. The main part of the pond
reserves is located in the Southern Federal Region,
which is climatically most favorable for pond fish cul
ture. Over the period of 1990–1995, more than 4 km3
of water were used to meet the needs of pond fishery;
after the year 2000, the volume of water use for these
needs dropped to 1.8–2.0 km3, including 1.4 km3 in
the Southern Region [11].
Under the condition of adverse effect of different
economic activities on the environment, the artificial
reproduction is an effective and often the main source
of replenishment of aquatic bioresources. The work on
artificial reproduction of fish resources is carried out
WATER RESOURCES Vol. 37 No. 5 2010
 WATER MANAGEMENT COMPLEX OF RUSSIA 721

Table 5. Fish yields in largest freshwater bodies of Russia during 1995–2007, thou. t [5–7]
Water body 1995 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007
ObIrtysh basin 15.0 16.4 16.2 16.1 20.6 16.8 19.2 14.0 14.1
Yenisei R. basin 1.8 1.7 1.8 1.7 1.5 1.57 1.15 1.45 1.35
Lakes
Ladoga 3.1 2.9 3.0 3.4 3.0 2.8 2.9 2.8 2.9
Onega 1.0 0.7 2.0 2.1 1.7 1.88 2.1 2.2 2.3
ChudskoyePskov 2.7 3.9 2.7 5.6 4.8 3.6 4.0 4.5 4.3
Il’men’ 1.6 1.3 1.5 1.4 1.4 1.2 1.38 1.5 1.56
Baikal 3.2 2.6 2.8 2.8 3.2 2.5 2.5 2.0 1.95
Reservoirs
Rybinsk 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.0 1.3 1.04 1 1.1
Kuibyshev 3.2 2.8 2.7 2.7 2.0 1.94 2.11 2.62 2.7
Saratov 0.8 0.5 0.7 0.8 0.6 0.67 0.6 0.69 0.7
Volgograd 1.0 1.0 1.3 1.3 1.5 1.69 1.72 2.17 2.05
Tsimlyansk 7.4 7.4 8.8 6.4 6.4 6.3 6.9 6.85 6.9

by 72 fish hash hatcheries under the jurisdiction of the
Federal Fishery Agency; these hatcheries are respon
sible for raising the fry of valuable fish species. The
number of fry introduced into natural water bodies
and reservoirs of the Russian Federation increased
from 5 216 million in 1996 to 6 646 million in 2000 and
to 7 654 million in 2007 [7, 29].
WATER TRANSPORT AND TIMBER RAFTING
The inland water transport includes the river craft
and the infrastructure necessary for its maintenance.
As to the water use, the water transport places mini
mum demands on the quality of water resources.
However, the water transport is one of the sources of
water pollution, primarily, with petroleum products
and suspended matter. Moreover, the water transport
operation is related to the use of appropriate hydraulic
structures, which also have an adverse effect on water
resources.
The river craft is used for freight traffic and passen
ger transportation by inland waterways. Its main
advantage is the possibility of freight delivery and pas
senger transportation into areas not easily accessible.
The river craft technical condition depends on the age
and wear of river ships. The infrastructure of inland
water transport includes the following main elements:
river and lake ports and piers; locks to pass ships
between water basins and through hydraulic engineer
ing structures; interbasin channels and canals; coastal
and floating marks; pumping stations to maintain
water supply to waterways [13].
The possibility of traffic of main types of river and
marine ships is governed by the depth and width of
waterways. The operation of the inland water transport
will be steady, provided the depth and width (navigable
dimensions) of waterways meet the minimum require
ments. Inland waterways of the Russian Federation
offer transport service to 26 autonomous republics,
territories, nationality districts, and 42 regions of the
Russian Federation; in addition to this, they ensure
foreign trade transportation. The present waterway
condition is characterized by the low share of water
ways with guaranteed dimensions.
In 1995, the length of inland waterways totaled
83700 km and the share of waterways with guaranteed
dimensions was 41%. By the end of 2007, the length of
inland waterways reached 101600 km (increase by
21%); however, the share of waterways with guaran
teed dimensions increased insignificantly, i.e., up to
43%. The length of waterways provided with naviga
tion marks decreases from year to year (by 17% over
the period of 12 years). About 100000 floating and
coastal marks indicating the navigation conditions are
used in inland waterways along with 723 navigation
hydraulic structures, of which locks account for 17%,
canals for 18%, dikes for 16%, dams for 13%, all other
structures account for 36%.
Table 6. Characteristics of river craft operation in Russia dur
ing 1995–2007 [22]
Characteristics 1995 2000 2005 2006 2007
Number of passengers trans 26.8 27.7 20.7 19.6 21.5
ported, millions
Passenger capacity, billion 1.1 0.95 0.88 0.90 0.96
passengerkm
Freight transported, million 144.9 116.8 134.2 139.2 153.4
ton
Freight turnover, billion ton 90.9 71.0 87.2 86.7 86.0
km

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722 DEMIN
In spite of the increase in the length of inland
waterways with guaranteed navigable dimensions, the
freight turnover of the river craft of Russia decreased in
2007 as compared to 2005 (Table 6). Nevertheless, the
density of freight traffic gradually increased over the
last decade and in 2007 it exceeded the value of 2000
by 31%. After 2000, the density of passenger transpor
tation steadily decreased; however, a certain growth
became evident in 2007. From 2000, a growth in tour
ist activity in the field of water transport is observed.
The inland water transport is particularly impor
tant in case of freight traffic into the Far North regions
and related areas, where inland waterways are the only
transport communication. In recent years, fluid
freight (petroleum and petroleum products) amounts
to 7–16% and dry freight amounts to 84–93% within
the structure of freight traffic by inland water transport
of common use in Russia. Construction materials
(58–68%), timber (6–7%), ferrous metals (2–3%),
and bituminous coal (2–3%) dominate among dry
freight.
A steady decrease in the number of river and lake
ships of the river craft was recorded during the eco
nomic crisis. Over the period from 1995 to 2000, more
than 5500 ships were written off as being obsolete. In
the 2000s, the number of ships decreased insignifi
cantly but, during 2007, it decreased by 1800 ships (by
5.5% as compared to 2006). The fleet of towboats and
auxiliary ships showed a dramatic decrease. The ship
fleet demonstrated noticeable aging. In 1995, the
number of ships being in operation less than 15 years
accounted for 36.6% of the total number of ships, the
number of ships being in operation from 15 to 20 years
accounted for 27.1%, and the number of ships being in
operation more than 25 years accounted for 36.2%. In
2005, the numbers of ships were 13.8, 33.7, and 52.4%,
respectively.
Timber rafting, as a technological process, is incor
porated in timber logging operations and represents
their final stage aimed at delivering the timber into
points of use or reloading onto other type of transport.
There are three types of rafting: loose floating, rafting,
and bag boom towing. Loose floating accounted for
about one half of the total volume of timber rafting in
the USSR. In the early 1990s, loose floating was prac
ticed in 275 rivers of Russia. According to the Water
Code of the Russian Federation of 1995, timber rafting
without towboats in water bodies used for navigation and
loose floating of timber in water bodies are prohibited.
This regulation is confirmed in the RF Water Code, 2006.
Timber rafting affects the natural condition of
channels, leads to pollution of watercourses and water
bodies with sunk timber, destruction of spawning
areas, formation of blockings, which prevent fish from
migration and cause silting of channels and spawning
areas. The sunken timber imparts toxic properties to
water and changes its hydrochemical composition.
The input and ensuing disintegration of readily oxidiz
able organic compounds in water results in a decrease
in the content of dissolved oxygen, in a change in the
color index, and in intensification of oxidizability.
The transformation of rivers into chains of reser
voirs and river flow regulation contributed to deepen
ing and widening of the ship fairway; this permits tow
ing of rafts with deeper draught by highcapacity ships;
it also makes timber transportation in ships more eco
nomical [3]. In recent years, an increase in the output
of products of wood processing plants resulted in
regeneration and development of timber rafting.
RECREATIONAL USE OF WATER RESOURCES
Recreation is closely related to the recovery of
health and ability to work through outdoor rest along
with nature or during tourist trips, including places of
sightseeing, national parks, and natural monuments.
Water objects are favorite places for recreation, sports,
and improvement of health. In recent years, the scope
of recreation activities at water objects steadily
increases due to the growth of urban population num
ber and improvement of transport communications.
About 60% of all the sanatoriums, more than 80% of
holiday homes, 60% of tourist centers, and 90% of
suburban recreation facilities most popular in the
country are located on the coasts of water bodies of the
Russian Federation. Recreation at water objects, as an
important part of this industry, includes swimming,
rowing, boating, and taking sunbath in the open air.
All water objects suitable for recreation, sporting,
and tourism can be referred to aquatic recreation
resources. Water objects and other natural objects
adjacent to them often form an integrated recreation
space with favorable conditions for all types of recre
ation. The suitability of water and coastal objects for
different types of recreation depends on the following
characteristics: water quality and cleanliness of coastal
areas; the configuration, depth, and area of a water
body, water temperature; the richness of water fauna,
the type of coastal vegetation; the safety of a water
body for swimming (lack of turbulent current reaches,
whirlpools, algae, different dangerous objects on the
bottom); types of coasts (beaches, rocks, downfalls,
grasslands, and boggy lands); types of landscapes;
availability of natural and historical monuments; pro
vision with transport access roads; the conditions of
rafting, which are of primary importance for sport
tourism (river length, its slope, current velocity; the
availability of rapids, waterfalls, dams, log blocking,
etc.). It is important to have information on shallow
water areas, as the most comfortable zones for swim
ming, and on the type of bottom sediments.
The areas of swimming and fishing should differ
from other areas by high water quality; therefore, the
discharge of wastewater in the vicinity of recreation
zones cannot be tolerated and coastal belts and bot
toms of water bodies should be regularly cleaned.
Water quality is not of crucial importance in such
sports as rowing, sailing, and water skis; however,
WATER RESOURCES Vol. 37 No. 5 2010
 WATER MANAGEMENT COMPLEX OF RUSSIA
viewing the fact that these activities are closely con
nected with swimming, stringent requirements upon
the water quality are imposed in these cases. The use of
motor boats in some places, particularly in small riv
ers, is limited with a view to protect water bodies and
watercourses from pollution with combustibles and
lubricants and from bank undermining by waves.
From the year 2000, a growth of tourist activity is
observed in inland water transport, the demand for
services of excursion motor vessels has rapidly
increased. Tourist and excursionpleasure routes
account for one quarter of all passengers using this
type of transport (in 2000, it was 11%) and for nearly
70% of its passenger capacity (51%). In 2007, 940000
persons were transported by tourist routes, i.e., 2.4
times more than in 2000. In the same year, more than
4.2 million persons, i.e., 1.7 times more than in 2000,
traveled by excursionpleasure routes [25]. At present,
tourists travel by more than 150 different routes. More
than twothirds of river tourist routes pass through the
European part of Russia.
AQUATIC AND ONSHORE ECOSYSTEMS
Water resources are associated with the indispens
able factor responsible for the environment formation;
in turn, the conditions of other natural environment
components and, hence, the natural living conditions
of a man depend on the state of this factor. Water with
drawal from sources in the amount exceeding certain
limits and meeting the demands at the sacrifice of
water from the environmentally necessary flow
(release) of surface water may result in a considerable
environmental hazard of irreversible decrease in the
natural resource potential and in disturbance of envi
ronmentally safe conditions of water objects. Uncoor
dinated water use leads to an increase in loads on the
environment and gives rise to water conflicts among
the subjects of the Russian Federation, which partici
pate in economic activities.
By the environmental release is meant the flow of a
regulated river, which ensures the reproduction and
functioning of aquatic and onshore ecosystems in the
lower pool of waterworks. In estimating the environ
mental release, the following hydrological periods are
taken into account: spring flood and highwater peri
ods, when the ecosystem reproduction is observed;
lowwater periods, when waterdeficient years pose
great difficulties to the ecosystem functioning. The
determination of environmental releases is based on
the analysis of relationships between the hydrological
regime features (water discharges and flow volume,
water levels, current velocities, and others) and biolog
ical, homeostatic (productivity and species composi
tion of aquatic fauna, floodplain vegetation, etc.) or
substituting indirect indices, which characterize the
condition of ecosystems. In most cases, the condition
of ichthyofauna is an integral indicator of the condi
tion of aquatic and onshore ecosystems [12]. Sanitary
WATER RESOURCES Vol. 37 No. 5 2010
723
releases are meant to provide the water quality in a
water body, which could meet the sanitary regulations
and standards. The following criterions are recom
mended as environmental criterions, which should be
taken into account and used in developing the stan
dards of environmental releases: the conditions of nat
ural reproduction of ichthyofauna and floodplain veg
etation; the level of biological productivity of ecosys
tems; structure of fish community, including valuable
fish species and fish species of small value, the rates of
their growth; the efficiency of industrial fish reproduc
tion, industrial restoration, and industrial reserves of
aquatic fauna; the species diversity of organisms, suc
cession of animal and plant communities; the condi
tion of river channels and floodplains, the processes of
delta formation, etc.
In elaborating the rates of environmental releases,
the following parameters are used as the main hydro
logical parameters: water discharge, flow, and water
levels as well as their distribution within a year during
years of different occurrences; the date and duration of
spring floods and high water; floodplain and delta sub
merged area; water level regime, water salinity, and
other data for terminal water objects; the characteris
tics of water regime in the channel and floodplain
spawning pools; species composition, population
number and biomass of planktonic and benthic organ
isms, the dynamics of fish population number, fish
reserves and yields. A hydrograph of monthly dis
charges of a mean lowwater year of 75% probability is
recommended to be used as the regime of discharges in
rivers inhabited by most valuable fish species. Special
requirements for the minimum permissible water dis
charge may be proposed for some water objects of
environmental, research, historical or cultural impor
tance [20].
Environmental releases should maintain the neces
sary conditions of life and reproduction of fish stock as
well as functioning of established aquatic and on
shore ecosystems, thus contributing to the increase of
their biological productivity. The environmental
releases include operationduty releases, which pro
vide the evacuation of salts carried by drainage water
(in river areas having developed agriculture), prevent
the channel rise as a result of sedimentation (in rivers
with high water turbidity and considerable water with
drawal), provide mean longterm water inflow to the
mouth cross section, which maintains the given water
and salt regime, or prevents the intrusion of salt sea
water into water bearing horizons.
CONCLUSIONS
Currently, the main problems facing the water
management complex of Russia are caused by the
unsatisfactory condition of domestic and drinking
water supply; wasteful water use and high specific unit
water consumption; unsatisfactory water quality in
water objects; considerable material damage caused by
724 DEMIN
the adverse effect of water; low efficiency of the system
of state water management, considerable decrease in
financing research and designing work; poor technical
condition of main facilities of the water management
complex; imperfect legislative basis and lack of reliable
economic mechanism of rational water use.
The largest water user among the participants of the
water management complex is the sector of produc
tion and distribution of gas, electric power, and water;
this sector accounted for 66% of water consumption in
2007. Less water is used in agriculture, hunting, and
forestry (16%), manufacturing industry (10%), fishery
and fish culture (3%).
Centralized water supply systems are available in
31% of all residential areas of Russia and only 6% of
these areas is provided with centralized sewerage sys
tems, including, respectively, 100% and 98% of towns,
96% and 81% of settlements, 30% and 5% of villages.
The wear of main facilities of the water supply and
sewerage systems varies from 50 to 70%. Water with
drawal from groundwater sources does not exceed 40%
of the total amount of water delivered to the water
pipeline system, which is less than in most European
countries. The high rate of water demand in towns of
Russia results from large water losses caused by leak
age. Considerable water losses are caused by failures in
water pipelines.
Humaninduced sources of pollution have a seri
ous adverse effect on water objects. In recent years, out
of the total amount of wastewater to be treated, only
11–12% is treated up to the standard quality. About
11 million t of pollutants annually enter the surface
water objects together with polluted wastewater. The
main polluters are housing facilities and public utili
ties, industry, and agriculture. Every other water user
in Russia has to drink water, the quality of which does
not meet some hygienic requirements; nearly one
third of the country’s population uses water sources
without appropriate water treatment.
In recent years, the volumes of product output by
manufacturing branches of industry in Russia have
noticeably increased (by 8–9%), while the volume of
water use have changed insignificantly. Water saving
due to the water recycling and reuse systems in manu
facturing branches of industry exceeds 90%. After the
year 2000, electric power generation grows from year
to year. In 2007, water withdrawal for electric power
needs exceeded 30 km3 and was 5.6% larger than in
2005. The distinct increase in the adverse effect of
power engineering on water objects is observed.
The share of electric power generated by hydro
power plants does not exceed 18% of the total electric
power generated in Russia. The main reason for poor
development of the hydropower potential is its
remoteness from power consumers. One of the serious
obstacles in further construction of hydropower plants
is their adverse effect on the environment. In addition
to this, the possibilities for the efficient use of the
existing hydropower plants are limited in the near
future by the worn out equipment and dams.
The degree of wear of main facilities in many land
reclamation systems and hydraulic structures reaches
60%. The major part of irrigation systems has earth
channels, where seepage water losses reach 40% of the
volume of water withdrawal. Nearly 500000 ha of irri
gated land areas are not used in agricultural produc
tion. The area of actually irrigated lands decreased
from 5 million ha in the late 1980s to 2.5 million ha in
2005–2007. The agricultural water supply is mainly
based on groundwater use, its share being 85%. In
2007, the area of rural houses equipped with water
mains was 43%. About 55% of local water supply sys
tems needs technical improvement, of which more
than 30% needs reconstruction. Only 5% of rural set
tlements are provided with sewerage systems; only 60–
70% of wastewater is treated at wastewater treatment
facilities.
Over the last 20 years, 7–8% of the total yield of
aquatic biological resources is accounted for inland
water bodies. Over the period from 2000 to 2007, the
fish catch in inland water bodies decreased by 14%.
The total of 22.5 million ha under lakes, 4.3 million ha
under reservoirs, about 1 million ha under agricultural
water bodies of multipurpose use, 143000 ha under
ponds, and 523 000 km of rivers are owned by the Fed
eration. Considerable damage is caused to the fishery
by uncontrolled fishing and poaching. The number of
fry introduced into natural water bodies and reservoirs
of the Russian Federation increase from 5.2 billion in
1996 to 6.6 billion in 2000, and to 7.7 billion in 2007.
The main advantage of the river craft is the possibil
ity of freight delivery and passenger transportation into
areas not easily accessible. The present condition of
waterways is characterized by the low number of
waterways with guaranteed dimensions. In 2007, the
freight turnover of the river transport of Russia
decreased as compared to the level in 2005 and, partic
ularly, in 1995. After 2000, the density of passenger
traffic steadily decreased but, in 2007, its growth
became evident. Distinct aging of the ship fleet is
recorded.
Over the last years, the scope of recreation activities
at water objects has grown steadily. About 60% of all
the sanatoriums, more than 80% of holiday homes,
60% of tourist centers, and more than 90% of subur
ban recreation facilities, most popular in the country,
are located on the coasts of water bodies of the Russian
Federation. In 2007, 940000 persons were transported
by tourist routes, i.e., 2.4 times more than in 2000. In
the same year, more than 4.2 million persons, i.e., 1.7
times more than in 2000, traveled by excursionplea
sure routs.
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