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Meredith Brackett
Alex Cole
Bridget Nash
Eileen Simon
THE VOLGA RIVERPOLITICS, DAMMING, AND POLLUTION
Geography Location: European
Russia Often considered the
national river of Russia
Source: The Volga begins in The Valdai Hills midway between St. Petersburg and Moscow
Mouth: The river empties into the Caspian Sea.
Statistics Length – 3,692km
(2,294mi) The largest River in Europe
Elevation: Source = 225m
Mouth = -98m
From source to mouth the river has an average slope of 0.36ft/mile
Watershed/Drainage Watershed = 1,380,000 km²
(532,821 mi2) Average discharge of: 8,060
m3/s (284,636 ft3/sec) where it enters the Caspian Sea
Snow accounts for 60% of the Volga’s discharge
150,000 rivers, brooks, and streams empty into the Volga
Principal tributaries: Kama, Samara, Oka,
Vetluga
Volga River Delta at the Caspian Sea
Climatic Zones Northwest
Temperate climate
Cold, snowy winters and warm, hot summers
Southeast
Hotter summers and drier seasons
Average Temperature
Northwest
Summer = 65°F
Winter = 12°F
Southeast
Summer = 77°F
Winter = 19°F
Overview Politics Transformation of the Volga
Effects of fall of Soviet Union
Damming Causes
Effects
Pollution Causes
Effects
Solutions
Politics
Tsar Peter the Great (1682-1696)
Conceived idea to build a canal between Moscow and the Volga Would make it possible to transport goods by water
from Moscow all the way to the mouth of the river
Joseph Stalin
Raised idea again in the 1920s
Believed that natural resources should be shaped to better serve an industrialized society
Politics Moscow-Volga Canal Construction began in 1932 Completed in 1937 Advantages
Connects River Moskva to the upper Volga Gave Moscow access to five seas: Caspian, Black, Azov, White, and Baltic
11 locks and dams
Vital trade route Turned Russian villages along the river into bustling cities
Disadvantages Relocation of 110 communities
Loss of habitat Pollution
Selfish goals
Fall of Soviet Union Loss of regulation and conservation of sturgeon
Drastic increase in illegal fishing for individual profit
Rapid decline in sturgeon population
Ironically, pollution decreased
Economy crashed – less industry
Less transport
Ships were broken up for metal and quick cash
Efforts to restore fleet still being made
Damming on the Volga Canal was just the beginning of Volga’s
transformation
In 2004:
11 hydropower stations on the Volga and Kama
716 reservoirs supply 13% of basin’s power facilities
Because of power sources, 45% of Russia’s industry and 50% of its agriculture are located in the Volga basin
The Volga Hydroelectric Station
The Volga hydroelectric station, also known as the Stalingrad Volgograd Hydroelectric Power Station, is the largest in all of Europe dating back
from Soviet Union.
Cause of Damming Built as part of post- WWII industrialization
Authorized by Joseph Stalin in 1950
Called for massive amounts of hydroelectric power
The first part of the plant was completed 8 short years later
Construction mid 1950s
Statistics of Volga Dam 725 meter long, 44 meter high concrete dam
In addition to a 3250 meter long landfilled dam, reaching 47 meters high
Includes 3 fishery paths
Total of 22 generators
Powers 12.3 billion KW/ hour of energy
Effect of Damming Disruption of Caspian Sea fish migration
Destruction of natural Sturgeon spawning grounds
Negative effect on black caviar industry
Depleted fertile land and sediment
Negative Effect: Formation of Reservoir
Causes of Pollution Agricultural
Domestic
Industrial
Hydroelectric Dams
Economy
Agricultural Volga River Basin contains 50% of Russia’s
agriculture
300,000 tons of organic substances
120,000 tons of Nitrogen fertilizer gets into the water from rural areas
Could cause hypoxia and possible Dead Zones in the Caspian Sea
Domestic 60 million people live along the Volga River Basin
Volga produces 40% of the drinking water for the Russian human population
40,000 cubic yards of raw sewage are dumped into the Volga every year .
Industrial Leading cause of pollution on the Volga River
Contains 45% of the Russia’s industry
Industrial wastewater contains:
heavy metals
oil products
polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons
biphenols
dioxins
other chemical compounds
Industrial 3,000 factories dump 10 billion cubic yards of
contaminated waste into the Volga every year
Fines do not prevent illegal dumping of waste because they are small
Industrial waste also causes the air to be polluted with sulfur, hydrocarbons, and other chemicals
Hydroelectric Dams Before the hydroelectric dams were built it took 50
days for the river water to travel the 2,300 miles to the Caspian Sea
Today it takes a year and a half for the water to travel to the Caspian Sea
Causes pollutants to accumulate
Petroleum byproducts are already 100 times over the allowable limit
Economy Russia’s economic crash and fear of job loss
prevent clean up efforts
Lack of money has prevented federal pollution prevention programs from happening
Effects of Pollution Health problems Cancer
Helminth
Loss of major fish species Sturgeon
Salmon
Herring
Mutations in fish are occurring
Solutions Find funding for cleanup programs
Activists need to get the public on their side
Japanese can help
Provide funding for research programs
Conclusion Connection between politics, damming, and
pollution
Downward spiral effect
Politics created dams
Dams contributed to pollution
Dams and pollution led to loss of major economic resource
Works CitedBurke, Justin. “Near the Sea, Astrakhan Sees Worst of Volga 's Heavy
Pollution.” Christian Science Monitor 14 Sept. 1993: 11. Web. 15 April 2011.
Clarke, Renfrey. “Greenpeace exposes Russian dioxin peril.” Green Left 7 May 1997: Web. 15 April 2011.
Dovgopol, Galina F., Khodorevskaya, Raissa P., Olga L. Zhuravleva & Anatolii D. Vlasenko. “Present status of commercial stocks of sturgeons in the Caspian Sea basin.” Environmental Biology of Fishes. 48. (1997): 209-219. Web. 13 April. 2011.
Garrels, Anne. “Russia’s Troubled Waters Flow With the Mighty Volga.” NPR 1 Nov. 2010. Web. 15 April 2011
Kuznetsov, Valery. "Volga now a health hazard." Moscow News 20 Aug. 2003: 5. Academic OneFile. Web. 19 Apr. 2011.
Mauch, Christof . Rivers in History: Perspectives on Waterways in Europe and North America. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2008. Web. 15 April 2011.
Works CitedMoiseenko, T. I., Gashkina, N. A., Sharova, Yu. N., and Pokoev, A. G.
“Ecotoxicological Assessment of After-Effects of the Volga River Water Contamination.” Water Resources 32.4 (2004): 369-383. Web. 15 April 2011.
Pope, V. “Poisoning Russia's river of plenty.” U.S News & World Report 13 April 1992: 49. Web. 15 April 2011.
Pourkazemi, Mohammad. “Caspian Sea Sturgeon Conservation and Fisheries: Past Present and Future.” Journal of Applied Ichthyology: 22.1 (2006): 12-16. Web. 15 April 2011.
Shargorodsky, Sergei. “Europe’s Longest River Not Fit For Fish or People Russia Lacks Money to Clean Up Decades of Industrial Pollution Dumped into Volga.”Rocky Mountain News 11 May 1997: 62A. Web. 15 April 2011.
“Working with sewage: the health hazards: a guide for employers”http://www.healthandsafety.co.uk/ Health and Safety Home Pages, n.d. Web. 15 April 2011.Home Pages
“Volga River.” 2011. The History Channel Website. Web. 21 February 2011.
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