Damages from water pollution in Russia come to over USD 2 billion a year

Damage to the water resources of Russia is estimated at USD 2.3 billion a year. This was announced to a Rosbalt correspondent by the press office of the Russian Environment Ministry. There are about four thousand fresh water and salt water deposits which provide a total annual supply of 31.5 cubic kilometres of water annually. However, about 55 billion cubic metres of sewage and waste enter this water supply every year, 20 billion cubic metres of which are over accepted pollution levels.

In order to solve this problem the Russian Environment Ministry has developed a programme entitled Development of Russia's hydrological complex. The programme is set for completion by 2015, and entails three stages. If the programme is successful, the total cost of damages caused by floods and water pollution will drop by USD 2 billion a year.