THE VOLGA RIVER - University Of Illinoisclasses.geology.uiuc.edu/11SprgClass/ESES222/Volga.pdf ·...

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.