Water Pollution in Russia

Though Russia is known to be abundant in water resources, the #1 concern among citizens are their access to clean and safe drinking water.

With over 2 million lakes and 200,000 rivers, Russia accounts for 1/4 of the earth's freshwater supply. Despite this abundance, water contamination is a serious concern for Russia, particularly in Moscow. Over half of their water supply do not meet safety standards. There are large amounts of heavy metals like sulfur, aluminum, oil, as well as other pollutants rampant in groundwater and surface water. "'There are toxic substances that exceed Russia’s safety standards by many times,” Dmitry Artamonov, head of the Toxics campaign of Greenpeace Russia,  told The BRICS Post . In one sample, mercury exceeded safety levels by 20 times; in another sample, manganese surpassed safety levels by 120 times" (Ritter). This issue arose due to 2 main factors:

1. Much of this contamination is thanks to the leather and textile industries, which contributed to a lot of the wastewater dumping that took place. A larger percentage of this dumping took place during the Soviet era. "Much of the pollutants in Russia’s water sources were dumped during Joseph Stalin’s rule, between 1941 and 1953. Stalin  wanted the USSR to “catch up”  with the western countries, and, as a result, factories forewent the usual environmental regulations in order to produce goods as quickly as possible" (Chung). This is a good example of a consequence of globalization, or the way in which companies influence and operate on an international scale. Many of Russia's rivers have a dark history. The Techa River, for example, contain radiation levels over 80 times higher than they should be. This is due to the Mayak Plant that aided the Soviet Unions nuclear weapons program. This was largely driven by the arms race, or the competition between the nations for accumulation of nuclear weapons. Over 60 years later, those living around the area still do not feel safe drinking the water and must only drink bottled water. The plant is still potentially leaking hazardous waste into the water sources near it.
2. A substantial issue arises from the poor infrastructure of the water pipelines that run through the cities and towns of Russia. Over 30% of them are in need of repairs. These pipes have been heavily corroded which not only makes them unable to properly function, but releases even more harmful heavy metals into the water supply.

Many people living in Russia became very sick or died unnaturally young. The rates of birth defects and cancer grew rapidly. Life expectancy, or the average period at which a person may expect to live, declined. Many workers at the Mayak Plant developed cancer and campaigned for compensation of victims, but were not successful. Many of these workers lost their lives.

The government has done very little to address these issues and work on the infrastructure. In the past, they have attempted to find ways to implement transfer schemes, but the large distance between Siberia, where most of the water supply is, and the western parts of Russia where the majority of the population reside. This vast distance makes it incredibly difficult to manage this. "The Russian Academy of Sciences created a government-backed plan called the Clean Water of Russia Program. This is Russia’s first and only government-issued program designed to overcome the water crisis. More than 2,000 separate proposals were  collected and refined into the program , which was implemented in regions across the country. The program  outlines goals to invest in  improving water supply and waste disposal, protection for water sources against pollution and installing steel water pipes to last over 100 years" (Chung).

Researching this topic is very concerning, even as someone who lives far from this region. It makes me wonder where else this could take place, if not Russia. It is a shame that the government has not taken a strong enough initiative to address the rampant water crisis. Though they have supported programs to overcome this crisis, they have not worked to fix the poor pipeline infrastructure of Russia. I hope that in the coming years the attention is directed back to fixing this concern.