Flooding East of the Urals Getting More Attention, But Drought in Center and South of Russia has More Serious Long-Term Consequences, ‘Versiya’ Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, May 25 – Flooding in Russia east of the Urals this spring, an annual event, has attracted more attention, but the intensification of the drought in the center and south of the country is already having more serious long-term consequences, limiting the use of rivers for transportation and threatening water shortages for the economy and the population along them.

            Indeed, the drought, one that has reduced the flow of the Volga to a level not seen since 1895, Versiya commentator Ivan Romodanov says, is forcing cutbacks in the draft of ships travelling along it, threatening agricultural production and water shortages for industry and the population (versia.ru/centralnoj-i-yuzhnoj-rossii-grozit-obezvozhivanie).

            The same thing is happening to the Don and its littoral, he continues, with water levels in the river now far below what they have been in recent decades. One of the hardest hit places so far is Russian-occupied Crimea where the rivers and reservoirs feeding the canal supplying the peninsula with water are drying up.

            Just how serious this situation may become is signaled by the title and subtitle Romodanov chose for his article: “Central and Southern Russia are Threatened by a Loss of Water” and “The Country is Drying Up.” Russian officials hope that more rain will come soon; but even if it does, that is unlikely to reverse the current trend of “dehydration.”