Republican Unitary Enterprise «CENTRAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE FOR MULTIPURPOSE WATER USE» (RUE «CRIMWU»)

RUE «CRIMWU» is a specialized public research institute dealing with the multipurpose water use. The Institute reports to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation of the Republic of Byelorussia. It was established according to Decree ¹ 425 of April 22, 1960 of the Cabinet of Ministers of USSR “Concerning measures for regulation of use and enhancement of protection of water resources in USSR” and by the Order of the Board of the Byelorussian Academy of Sciences ¹ 10 of February 14, 1961.


The major goal of RUE «CRIMWU» is to ensure scientific and technological progress in the sphere of water use and protection from pollution and exhaustion by developing new methods, technologies and facilities.


Main objectives of RUE «CRIMWU»:
• comprehensive environmental assessment of the Byelorussia’s water stock;
• development of guidance documents and practical recommendations on efficient use of water resources, regulation of anthropogenic load on water, improvement of technical level of water use, and development of reliable surface- and groundwater monitoring system;
• development of international cooperation, first of all, in area of transboundary water systems.

Basic lines of RUE «CRIMWU»’s activity:
• developing the conceptual framework for forecasting, planning, rate setting, management and control over the water use and protection, particularly under extreme conditions;
• ensuring scientific and technological progress in the sphere of water use and protection;
• reasoning water-related measures, based on water regulation and aquatic ecosystem preservation, and harmful water impact prevention;
• coordinating works, summarizing and analyzing materials on State Water Cadastre (SWC), giving methodological, software and technical support for SWC keeping, providing stakeholders with information on water withdrawal and use, drainage flow, wastewater quality, maintaining exchange of information on transboundary water sources and structures;
• providing scientific and methodological support, developing layouts and designs of water-protection zones and coastal strips, sanitary protection zones of surface- and groundwater diversion points;
• environmental auditing in area of hydroecology;
• developing advanced technologies and techniques of water production;
• developing techniques for production of new types of beverages and extracts based on natural minerals;
• developing the methodological base for assessment of recreation capacities of water bodies.

Main achievements of RUE «CRIMWU»:
• developed scientific basis for the United state system of water use accounting;
• developed scientific basis for keeping water use section of the State Water Cadastre;
• developed and applied new methods of artificial groundwater recharge and recommendations on design and operation of diversion works;
• developed scientific basis for water-management balance calculation;
• automated modeling of river basin water-management systems in drawing up plans of water use and protection;
• developed technology and facilities of automated aquatic environment monitoring by using satellite information transmission tools;
• developed modeling methods and effective plans of flood protection;
• made economic assessment of water use, grounded water charges;
• assessed river pollution by surface outflow;
• developed and applied wastewater treatment technology in industrial plants;
• developed scientific basis of the theory of surface- and groundwater relationship;
• developed effective designs of water-regulating structures;
• developed scientific basis for engineering measure-impact evaluation in river basins on aquatic environment.

Based on the results of work of RUE «CRIMWU», more than 200 collections of scientific papers and monographs and more than 3.9 thousand articles in different national and foreign editions were published. Over 220 regulatory and procedural documents were prepared and approved.


The Institute does the huge work on preparation of scientific manpower through postgraduate courses in 2 fields: eco-geology and hydrogeology.


The Institute’s library contains about 30 thousand publications in various fields related to subject matters of the institute’s activities.


RUE «CRIMWU» develops technical specifications and provides methodological support in application of new technologies protected by certificates of invention. The Institute holds more than 200 inventor’s certificates and patents for invention; moreover, many of them were applied in practice.


The Institutes is comprised of the following main departments:
• department of environmental audit,
• laboratory for water-protection areas,
• laboratory for surface water,
• laboratory for recreation in water reservoirs and hydrological validation of water-related problems,
• laboratory for water monitoring and cadastre,
• laboratory for physical and chemical studies,
• laboratory for water-protection technologies and water production,
• laboratory for statistical water rate setting.

88 people, including 3 doctors of science and 9 candidates of science work in the Institute.

Slavinskogo str., 1 /2,
Minsk 220086, Republic of Byelorussia
Phone. + 375 17 267-05-23
Fax + 375 17 267-27-34
E-mail: This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it
Site: www.cricuwr.by