PADUO POCTOBA - Специальный репортаж - Спасение Цимлянского водохранилища - текст песни, слова, перевод, видео

42 billion rubles are required to improve the Tsimlyansk reservoir. This amount was announced to President Putin by the Don Governor Golubev. Only the federal government can allocate it - if its officials consider the costs justified. According to the rescue plan, only half of the requested amount will be used to eliminate low water on Tsimla, the rest is expected to be spent on the construction of the Bagaevsky hydroelectric complex further down the Don. What is happening to the largest reservoir in our region, Maria Pogrebnyak found out.

The man-made sea was required in the middle of the last century for the needs of the Tsimlyansk hydroelectric power station - they were created at the same time. In addition, the reservoir provided the required depth for the passage of ships along the Volga-Don Canal and supplied fields and people with water - from Rostov to Tsimlyansk.

The reservoir was built in 1952. An artificial lake with a depth of 30 meters and an area of almost three thousand square kilometers is located next to Tsimlyansk. Most of them are located in the Volgograd region. More than 160 villages were flooded during construction. The resettlement took four years. In some cases, farms were completely moved to a new location, in others, people abandoned their homes and started life from scratch in neighboring villages. Cemeteries and fifty temples remained at the bottom. The cross of one of the churches appears from the water during shallowing, and the remains of the dead and gravestones are found on the banks. Also at the bottom was the ancient Khazar fortress of Sarkel from the 9th century. Divers explore it from time to time. Scientists are still arguing whether it was worth building the Tsimlyansk Reservoir. Opponents of man-made reservoirs note that this has led to a decrease in the flow of the Don and increased salinity of the Azov Sea.

Tsimla has been shallowing for the last decade. One of the reasons is the low-water period. In winter there is not enough snow, and in summer there is not enough rain, so there is nowhere for water to come from in the upper reaches of the Don. As a result, the storage facility is less than half full, Evgeniy Dorozhkin, head of the Don Basin Water Administration, told us.

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Climate is not the only reason for shallowing. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, they stopped strengthening the banks - they are now being washed away - and cleaning the bottom of silt. Experts call for the return of the practice of dredging, but not to leave the soil under water, as they did before, but to drag it ashore, explained ichthyologist Natalya Volodkina.

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The old treatment facilities of Volgodonsk, Tsimlyansk and neighboring industrial enterprises do not cope with their function: waste enters the water and its quality decreases. The fish die, but blue-green algae feel good - they are dangerous because they release toxins. So far, the consequences are reversible, although according to some indicators the level of pollution already exceeds the norm,” said Alexander Naumenko, deputy director for science at the Scientific Institute of Lake and River Fisheries.

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Now the total catch in Tsimla is about three thousand tons of fish per year. This is six times less than it was twenty years ago. The sterlet has disappeared, there are almost no pike and pike perch. According to Lyudmila Bespalova, a professor at the Department of Oceanology at the Southern Federal University, the water level can only be raised by saving it - agricultural enterprises often use it irrationally.

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The Tsimla health program includes daily cleaning and repair of wastewater treatment facilities. But one of the main saving measures, according to the document, is the construction of the Bagaevsky hydroelectric complex. Officials believe this will not only raise water levels for ships, but will also save water in the artificial sea. However, experts are sure that the hydroelectric complex will not help the reservoir. According to the head of the Azov Research Institute of Fisheries, Nikolai Gospodarev, first of all, it is necessary to change the management system of the reservoir.

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The shallowing reservoir also affected the flow of tourists. If earlier those who wanted to swim in Tsimla came from neighboring regions, now even local residents have stopped swimming there. Shipping companies are also suffering losses - due to the falling water level, oil tankers are forced to sail half empty.

It is planned that the construction of the Bagaevsky hydroelectric complex and the cleaning of the Tsimlyansk reservoir will begin next year - the work will take three years. If this does not happen, then the man-made reservoir, according to scientists, will repeat the fate of the notorious Aral Sea on the border of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. Two years ago it completely dried up due to the irrational use of water for irrigation.