ВWater is the most important natural resource used in human activities, and the volume of its annual use well exceeds the mass of other exploited resources put together. Water storage is tremendous on the Earth; however, the usability of water is limited, first of all, by natural factors, including environmental ones. The unprecedented growth of world economy in XX century, demographic boom, and the associated increase in the anthropogenic load on ecosystems and natural waters have become the main causes of water scarcity, from which  many regions suffer. The world water supply per capita has decreased almost twofold since 2002 as compared to 1970; and by 2050 this figure is expected to drop further by one-half against 2002. The situation could be more aggravated if the current trends of human-induced deterioration of water quality in natural sources are not reversed. During the period roughly between 2035 and 2045, freshwater available for economy but yet not used would be left only in Canada, Russia, and Brazil. The predicted aggravation of water scarcity, from which more than half of the world’s population would suffer, calls us to speak about global water crisis. 

Russia ranks No.2 in the world in terms of gross freshwater resources (after Brazil), and No.3 among the largest countries (after Canada and Brazil) in terms of water supply per capita. However, Russia is characterized by low water use efficiency; pollution episodes due to emergencies at treatment plants and illegal discharge of wastewater bypassing the treatment plants in the night time are particularly hazardous. This leads to total pollution of surface sources and many groundwater sources, and, consequently, about 35% of water samples in these sources do not meet quality standards. Generally, approximately 20% of untreated sewages are discharged into water bodies in Russia. The annual damage from the pollution of water bodies averaged 70 billion roubles (in 2001 prices) and increased in the recent years. About two thirds of the population is provided with centralized drinking water supply in Russia. The poor quality of drinking water supplied to the population (not less than one third of water samples does not meet health requirements) is caused by both pollution of sources and, often, lack of buffer zones around these sources, absence or bad equipment at water production plants, and unsatisfactory conditions of water mains. A negative impact of hydrological processes is widespread in Russia. According to the Russian MES, more than 300 towns, thousands of small settlements with the population of more than 4.6 M people, and more than 7 Mha of agricultural land are subjected to flooding. The average long-term damage from floods is estimated by experts at about 50 billion roubles a year. Changes in rainfall patterns due to global warming, most likely, would be unfavorable for Russia. An expected significant increase of irregular distribution of rainfall would mean the heightened threat of both floods and droughts in this area. 

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