Trends in the USSR water resources development policies

Historically, large-scale integrated programs were the major instruments for solving numerous water management problems accompanying the USSR's economic development. Such programs as inland transportation systems, river impoundments for hydroenergy production and flood control, and agricultural irrigation were, in fact, the largest public works in the USSR. The large majority of these programs were executed in the form of all-out campaigns. Until recently, the premises for large-scale drainage system development were three enviro-ideological concepts: (i) inexhaustibility of river flows; (ii) dominance of a leading water user selected for a specific time period; (iii) all-purpose utilization of storage reservoirs and other hydrotechnical constructions. Persistant adherence to these three concepts as well as the rotation of leading water users (river transportation, followed by hydroenergy and then by irrigation) resulted in the depletion of surface waters and the deterioration of their quality. The existing economic mechanisms which control industrial productive systems within the non-market economy, poorly fit water management and do not prevent ecological disruption. In order to replenish already depleted and degraded water resources in the most populous and industrialized S regions, a long-distance N-to-S river flow diversion was designed and started in 1984. This integrated program could produce irreversible damage for soil structures, surbsurface water reserves, forests and estuarine regions.The new Gorbachev government is attempting to restructure environmental management toward more intensive uses of natural resources. The diversion projects have been abandoned, and new conservation methods in water and land management are receiving high priority in economic planning.Research for this paper was completed under a fellowship at the Woodrow Wilson Center and prepared for presentation at a colloquium, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Smithsonian, April 14, 1987.