– river flow. Its defining value lies in its constant renewal. Great value have water reserves in lakes and, in addition, . Our country has significant reserves. At the same time, per unit area, the provision of the territory of Russia with a runoff layer is almost 2 times lower than the world average. However, the water problem in our country is not so much due to a general shortage water resources, as much as the natural features of objects, as well as the features of human activity.
Uneven distribution of water resources
Most of Russia's water resources (9/10) are concentrated in the and basins, where less than 1/5 of the country's population lives. At the same time, most of the country’s economic potential is concentrated in the Black basins, and, to a lesser extent, the. These territories account for less than 10% and here the shortage of water resources is most clearly manifested.
Seasonal fluctuations in river flow
In Russia, constant monitoring of the quality of surface and groundwater is carried out. At 1300 water bodies There are about 4.5 thousand special tracking points. Despite this, the water quality in most rivers, lakes and reservoirs does not meet the relevant standards. A significant portion of pollutants enters rivers and lakes with precipitation and melted snow water. They carry particles of dust, salt, petroleum products, mineral fertilizers, and pesticides from fields and city streets. In addition, about 60 cubic meters are discharged into reservoirs annually. km waste water without proper cleaning. They also contain huge amount harmful substances. The water in all of Russia's largest rivers - the Volga, Don, Ob, and Yenisei - is assessed as "polluted", and in some of their tributaries as "very polluted". At the same time, the degree of river pollution increases from the upper reaches to the lower reaches. For some water consumers ( river transport, electric power industry) the quality of consumed water is not of decisive importance. But in most cases, it is the quality of water that limits its use. Of particular concern is that more than half of the Russian population is forced to drink contaminated water.
Two-thirds of our planet is occupied by water. This is more than enough for all people, but water conservation is a global problem for humanity. The thing is that most of the water resources are not suitable for drinking - it is a salty liquid, and humanity needs fresh water not only for drinking, but also for growing crops and feeding livestock.
Depletion of water supplies
Today water is a global problem for humanity. About half a million people in modern world are experiencing an acute shortage, and by 2025 experts predict a fivefold increase in their number. If the trend towards increasing water consumption continues, by the 50s of the 21st century two thirds of the planet's population will experience water shortages.
Fig 1. Map of distribution of fresh water reserves.
If everyone turns off the tap when brushing their teeth, then in just one morning they will save 20 liters of fresh water.
As in other cases, main reason urbanization is exacerbating humanity's water problem. In order to adapt the Earth to its needs, humanity violates and pollutes the ecosystem, which leads to a worsening of the situation. The problem is also affected by population growth, especially in regions with the most unfavorable situation. The greenhouse effect also makes its contribution - expanses of water evaporate without a trace from the surface of the planet. Plus, every person wastes water thoughtlessly in much large volumes than he needs.
Rice. 2. Polluted fresh water reservoir.
Solving the problem of water conservation
There are ways to solve this problem. First and the simplest one is saving resources by every inhabitant of the Earth. This will give much more significant results than it seems at first glance, making it possible not to develop new water deposits.
Second A way to save money is to develop purification technologies that will allow this important resource to be used repeatedly.
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Third– is the protection of water from pollution due to urbanization, which causes great harm to the entire ecosystem.
To achieve this, governments are developing joint programs that prevent the discharge of waste into water bodies and involve the installation of treatment facilities at all industrial enterprises.
But the use of glaciers, which were previously proposed as an alternative source of fresh liquid, according to experts, can lead to irreversible climate changes.
Fresh water (not including polar ice) constitutes only 0.3% of the total volume of this resource, so that there is about 1 cubic kilometer of liquid per person.
Leading Researcher, Department of Industrial and Regional Economics, RISS,
Candidate of Physical and Mathematical Sciences
Speech at situation analysis « Global problems water resources".
Currently, the world's population uses approximately 54% of all available surface water flow (usable, renewable freshwater). Taking into account the growth rate of the global economy, the growth rate of the planet's population (an increase of 85 million people/year), and other factors, it is expected that by 2025 this figure will increase to 70%.
According to the UN, in more than 18 countries there is a water shortage (a level of 1000 or less cubic meters per person/year), making it almost impossible to meet the needs for it national economies and utility needs of citizens. According to forecasts, the number of such states will increase to 33 by 2025.
The following countries are at a critically low level of water availability: the Middle East, Northern China, Mexico, countries North Africa, Southeast Asia and a number of post-Soviet states. According to the World Resource Institute, Kuwait is in the most difficult situation, with only 11 cubic meters per capita. meters of surface water, Egypt (43 cubic meters) and United United Arab Emirates(64 cubic meters). Moldova is in 8th place in the ranking (225 cubic meters), and Turkmenistan is in 9th place (232 cubic meters).
The Russian Federation has a unique water resource potential. The total fresh water resources of Russia are estimated at 10,803 cubic meters. km/year. Renewable water resources (the volume of annual river flow in Russia) amount to 4861 cubic meters. km, or 10% of the world's river flow (second place after Brazil). The main disadvantage of Russian water resources is their extremely uneven distribution throughout the country. In terms of the size of local water resources, the Southern and Far Eastern federal districts of Russia, for example, differ by almost 30 times, and in terms of water supply to the population by about 100 times.
Rivers are the basis of Russia's water fund. Over 120 thousand rivers flow through its territory. large rivers(over 10 km long) with a total length of over 2.3 million km. The number of small rivers is much larger (over 2.5 million). They form about half of the total volume of river flow; up to 44% of the urban and almost 90% of the rural population of the country live in their basins.
Groundwater, which is used mainly for drinking purposes, has potential exploitable resources exceeding 300 cubic meters. km/year. More than a third of potential resources are concentrated in the European part of the country. The groundwater deposits explored to date have total exploitable reserves of approximately 30 cubic meters. km/year.
In the country as a whole, the total water withdrawal for economic needs is relatively small - 3% of the average long-term river flow. However, in the Volga basin, for example, it accounts for 33% of the country’s total water intake, and in a number of river basins the figure exceeds environmentally permissible withdrawal volumes (Don - 64%, Terek - 68%, Kuban - 80% of the average annual flow). In the south of the European territory of Russia, almost all water resources are involved in national economic activities. In the basins of the Ural, Tobol and Ishim rivers, water tension has become a factor, to a certain extent, constraining the development of the national economy.
Almost all rivers are subject to anthropogenic influence; the possibilities of extensive water intake for economic needs for many of them have generally been exhausted. The water of many Russian rivers is polluted and unsuitable for drinking purposes. A serious problem is the deterioration of the water quality of surface water bodies, which in most cases does not meet regulatory requirements and is assessed as unsatisfactory for almost all types of water use.
Degradation of small rivers is observed. They become silted, polluted, clogged, and their banks collapse. Uncontrolled withdrawal of water, destruction and use in economic purposes water protection strips and zones, drainage of raised swamps led to the massive death of small rivers, thousands of which ceased to exist. Their total flow, especially in the European part of Russia, has decreased by more than 50%, resulting in the destruction of aquatic ecosystems and making these rivers unsuitable for use.
Today, according to experts, from 35% to 60% of drinking water in Russia and about 40% of surface and 17% of underground sources of drinking water supply do not meet the standards. Over 6 thousand sites of groundwater contamination have been identified throughout the country, greatest number which occur in the European part of Russia.
According to available estimates, every second resident Russian Federation forced to use water for drinking purposes that does not meet established standards for a number of indicators. Almost a third of the country's population uses water sources without adequate water treatment. At the same time, residents of a number of regions suffer from a lack of drinking water and a lack of proper sanitary and living conditions.
In particular, drinking water of poor quality in terms of sanitary-chemical and microbiological indicators is consumed by part of the population in the Republics of Ingushetia, Kalmykia, Karelia, the Karachay-Cherkess Republic, in the Primorsky Territory, in the Arkhangelsk, Kurgan, Saratov, Tomsk and Yaroslavl regions, in the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug and Chukotka Autonomous Okrug.
The cause of the problem lies in the massive pollution of river basins and lakes. At the same time, the main load on reservoirs is created by industrial enterprises, facilities of the fuel and energy complex, municipal enterprises and the agro-industrial sector. Annual volume of wastewater discharged for recent years practically does not change. In 2008, for example, it amounted to 17 cubic meters. km. However, it should be noted that against this background, there is a decrease in the volume of discharge of normatively treated wastewater, which is due to overload of treatment facilities, their poor quality of work, violations of technical regulations, lack of reagents, breakthroughs and volley discharges of contaminants.
In Russia, especially in its European part, there are unacceptably large water losses. On the way from the water source to the consumer, for example in 2008, with the total volume of water intake from natural sources equal to 80.3 cubic meters. km, losses amounted to 7.76 km. In industry, water losses reach more than 25% (due to leaks and accidents in networks, infiltration, imperfections technological processes). In housing and communal services, from 20 to 40% is lost (due to leaks in residential and public buildings, corrosion and wear of water supply networks); V agriculture– up to 30% (overwatering in crop production, excessive water supply rates for livestock farming).
The technological and technical gap is growing water management, in particular, in the study and control of water quality, the preparation of drinking water, the treatment and disposal of sediments formed during the purification of natural and waste waters. The development of long-term water use and protection schemes necessary for sustainable water supply has been stopped.
Global warming and climate change, as experts note, will lead to an improvement in the water supply of the Russian population as a whole. An increase in this indicator can be expected by European territory countries, in the Volga region, in the Non-Black Earth center, in the Urals, in most of Siberia and Far East. At the same time, in a number of densely populated regions of the Black Earth center of Russia (Belgorod, Voronezh, Kursk, Lipetsk, Oryol and Tambov regions), Southern (Kalmykia, Krasnodar and Stavropol territories, Rostov region) and the southwestern part of the Siberian ( Altai region, Kemerovo, Novosibirsk, Omsk and Tomsk regions) federal districts of the Russian Federation, which in modern conditions have rather limited water resources, their further reduction by 10-20% should be expected in the coming decades. These regions may experience serious water shortages, which may become a factor limiting economic growth and improving the well-being of the population, and there will be a need to strictly regulate and limit water consumption, as well as attract additional sources of water supply.
In the Altai Territory, in the Kemerovo, Novosibirsk, Omsk and Tomsk regions, a decrease in water resources, apparently, will not lead to critically low values of water availability and to a high load on water resources. However, given the fact that there are very serious problems here at the present time, in the future they may become especially acute, especially during low-water periods. This is primarily due to the large variability of water resources over time and territory, as well as the tendency to increase the intensity of use of transboundary river flows in China and Kazakhstan. To solve these problems, it is necessary to consider the possibilities of regulating flow and concluding international agreements on the joint use of water resources of the Irtysh.
Considering the growing influence of climate and its changes on the sustainability of economic development and social sphere country, it seems necessary when developing state water policy to include tasks related to climate change.
In general, experts believe that the main reasons for negative trends in the field of water resources and possible restrictions in their use are natural disasters, population growth, resource-intensive industrial and agricultural production, waste pollution of natural reservoirs, coastal areas, ground and underground waters. In this regard, one of the primary tasks is to protect the country’s aquatic ecosystems and promote rational use water in agriculture, industry and everyday life.
This is of particular relevance, since with large natural resources of surface and groundwater in Russia, the predominant part of which is located in the eastern and northern regions, economically developed European regions with high level integrated use of water resources have practically exhausted the possibility of their development without rationalizing water use, saving water and restoring the quality of the aquatic environment.
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To solve the problem of providing the Earth's inhabitants with water resources, it is necessary to radically reconsider the ways and means of using the hydrosphere, use water resources more economically and carefully protect water bodies from pollution, which is most often associated with human economic activity.
Scientists identify hydrological-geographical and technical methods for solving the water problem.
The primary technical task is to reduce the volume of wastewater discharge into reservoirs and introduce closed-loop water supply at enterprises. In front of the row industrial enterprises and utility services are faced with the urgent task of using part of the runoff for irrigating crop areas after appropriate treatment. Such technologies are being developed very actively today.
One way to get rid of the shortage of water suitable for drinking and cooking is to introduce a water conservation regime. For this purpose, household and industrial systems for controlling water consumption are being developed, which can significantly reduce its unreasonable consumption. Such control systems help not only save valuable resources, but also reduce the financial expenses of the population on this type utilities.
The most technologically advanced states are developing new ways of doing business and production methods that make it possible to get rid of technical water consumption or at least reduce the consumption of water resources. An example is the transition from systems to air, as well as the introduction of a method of smelting metals without blast furnaces and open hearths, invented in Japan.
Hydrological-geographical methods
Hydrological-geographical methods consist of managing the circulation of water resources on the scale of entire regions and purposefully changing the water balance of large land areas. However, we are not yet talking about an absolute increase in the volume of water resources.
The goal of this approach is the reproduction of water by maintaining sustainable flow, creating groundwater reserves, increasing the share of soil moisture through the use of flood waters and natural glaciers.
Hydrologists are developing methods to regulate the flow of large rivers. Measures are also being planned to accumulate moisture in underground wells, which could eventually turn into large reservoirs. It is quite possible to drain waste and thoroughly purified process water into such tanks.
The advantage of this method is that with it, water, passing through the layers of soil, is additionally purified. In areas where stable snow cover has been observed for a long period, snow retention work is possible, which also makes it possible to resolve the issue of water availability.