Economic impact on the riverine-estuarine environment of the USSR: the Black Sea Basin |
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| Authors: | David Tolmazin |
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| Institution: | (1) University of Connecticut, Marine Sciences Institute, Avery Point, 06340 Groton, CT, USA |
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| Abstract: | Soviet environmental policy of reservoir storage for hydroenergy production had a disastrous effect on the ecology of the major drainage systems and estuaries in European Russia and the Ukraine. Water quality and fish productivity in the rivers and estuaries sharply worsened. Since the early 1960's severe water deficits, increased pollution levels, and intrusions of saltwaters into the zones of freshwater and brackish water habitats caused resource-use conflicts between the major water users, which further contributed to the depletion of freshwater sources and the rapid deterioration of estuarine regions. As a remedial measure, Soviet environmental planners considered a complete restructuring of the country's drainage system by the diversion of the N-flowing rivers to the S slope of the country, transfer of the Danube water to the N slope of the Black Sea, and blocking the straits connecting the Azov Sea, the Dnepr estuaries with the Black Sea.This article investigates the environmental changes in the drainage systems of the USSR caused by various economic activities using the Black Sea Basin as a test ground. The analysis of trends in ecology of the drainage systems and estuaries, and proposed rehabilitation programs to enhance the economic importance of the Black Sea estuaries, shows that environmental misuse in the Soviet Union results from inability of the Soviet economic mechanisms to ensure efficient utilization of water resources in the national production system. |
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