Water Supply to the Population and Economic Facilities in the Don River Basin: The Current State and Problems

Abstract

The deficiency of water resources in the Don River Basin is demonstrated along with the administrative division of the basin territory and the population of the Russian Federation as of January 1, 2018. The present-day state of the key participants of the water-management system is analyzed. Data are given to characterize the increase in the availability of central water supply to housing stock in the constituent entities of the federation in basin territory in 2001–2018 and a decrease in the mean daily water consumption by 30–50%. In 2000–2018, the share of water samples with poor sanitary-chemical and microbiological characteristics in water bodies of the first category decreased in all regions except for Rostov oblast and the Republic of Kalmykia. The rural population in the Don Basin receive high-quality water at a far lower level than the urban population. The coefficient of water rotation in the industry all over the Don Basin increased from 64.2 to 85.3% in the period from 1990 to 2018. Since the early 1990s, the area of irrigated lands in the basin started rapidly decreasing. In 2000, only half of the lands requiring irrigation received it; in 2016, the proportion decreased to one quarter.