Sergey P. Gorshkov1*, Laurent Touchart2, Olga I. Mochalova3, Andrey Yu. Ozerskiy4, Larissa S. Evseeva1 1 Faculty of Geography, Lomonosov Moscow State University * Corresponding author, e-mail: [email protected] 2 The University of Orleans 3 Environmental Initiatives Centre, Design Bureau, LLC 4 Krasnoyarsk Mining and Geological Company FROM PONDS TO MAN-MADE SEAS ENVIRONMENT IN RUSSIA 65 ABSTRACT. Russia has more than 2200 development, which was only natural reservoirs and large ponds. As time went by, under the existing totalitarian regime. The ponds lost their importance in some aspects Civil War of 1917–1922, confiscation of food of human life, while newly created man-made by the government, crop failures and famines seas impacted the nature and the people in in the early 1920s and 1930s, dekulakization two ways. The costs involved in designing, and collectivization, and industrialization constructing, and operating the artificial seas, aimed at developing the military industry especially on the plains, have been too high to took place amid the repressive crackdown consider them as an undisputed achievement and GULAG camps. Under the circumstances, of the Soviet scientists transforming the nature. the authorities had to make some highly This paper discusses the problem of ponds and questionable decisions relating to land man-made seas in Russia. ownership and the public. Josef Stalin and his henchmen took extremely tough social and KEY WORDS: mega projects, quantum leap, economic measures to make a quantum leap in overflowing, giant reservoir, large industrial the military and industrial development using complex, environmental damage, drift wood, coercion, punitive measures, and propaganda. abrasion, landslide processes, intensification Providing economy with electric power was of karst, disintegration of family relationships. one of the main problems facing the country at that time. Large hydroelectric power stations INTRODUCTION were regarded as a way of dealing with this issue. Man-made seas were created with this Construction of ponds was wide-spread in purpose in mind. This looked more like an Russia before the 1917 revolution. At the turn obsession with gigantic projects. It was forced of the 20th, city ponds were mostly used for upon and imposed by Josef Stalin. In the 1930s, recreational purposes. Water released from the country had about 60,000 water engines. the ponds in rural areas of Nechernozemye By the 1950s, almost all water and wind engines provided power for mills and sawmills. were out of operation due to wear and tear, as This was the main function of local ponds, well as massive overflows of reservoirs, which although they were also used in goose and caused the agricultural lands to be flooded. duck breeding and for other purposes. Ponds Many ponds, though still remaining in the became widespread in the arid areas primarily rural areas, gradually fell into disuse due to because of the need to supply the agricultural lack of proper care. Therefore, their recreational lands with water. Construction of ponds potential also diminished. Urban ponds were played a significant role in the economy and not managed in the best way either. Some of recreational infrastructure of the Tsarist Russia. them were scrapped altogether. The post-revolutionary period after In 1956, the cult of Stalin was exposed and October 25, 1917, saw hard times for pond shortly after that, the GULAG network was gi413.indd 65 15.01.2014 9:17:31 abandoned. More benevolent totalitarian water for fighting fires. People used them regime meant fewer possibilities for for washing clothes and even for bathing. exploiting convicts. However, technological During the last few centuries, the city power of the country, which won the World authorities shut down about 700 ponds. War II, grew significantly. With the help of the Now, many of them can only be found propaganda campaign, the construction of in historical records or on the pages of the tallest dam in the world or the creation works of fiction. The present-day Moscow’s of an enormous man-made sea was made Yaroslavsky Railway Station is located at the to look almost like an achievement equal to site of the ancient Red Pond, which was also ENVIRONMENT the first human space flight of Yuri Gagarin. called the Great Pond. That was one of the In this way Russia became the country with oldest ponds in Moscow, which was referred 66 the largest man-made seas that flooded to as the Great in the Annals since 1423. hundreds of settlements, several cities, huge Later, a royal village called Krasnoselskoye areas of arable land, grasslands, steppe, was founded not far from the pond, so woody, and even tundra pasture lands, from that time on the pond became known as well as vast areas of marshes, forests, as Krasnoselsky. Its area was 23 hectares. archaeological sites, ancient monuments, However, it has being shrinking gradually. In churches, bridges, and civil engineering the 19th century, the Krasnoselsky Pond was structures. used for sewage disposal and in 1910 it was shut down. The return to capitalism in the 1990s did not bring any improvement to the pond sector In the 17th century, the Zhivotinny Dvor of the Russian Federation. Even in Moscow, slaughterhouse was located next to the quality of water from ponds now is more Chistoprudny Boulevard. Wastewater was likely to be poor than good. Most ponds have discharged into the pond called Pogany lost their natural capacity for self-purification, (Rotten) for that reason. During the reign of while the banks are not protected against Peter the Great, Prince Alexander Menshikov washouts and sliding. However, the program bought this land plot. The building on the of ponds reclamation recently got underway corner of the street at the Myasnitsky Gate in Moscow, and it is being implemented, had belonged to him since 1699. The Prince though partially. The tradition of conquering built a church deep in the courtyard, which the nature did not change in terms of major was nicknamed Menshikov Tower, cleaned rivers. It has become increasingly difficult the pond and ordered to stop polluting it. to attract funds to finance mega projects Since then, the pond is referred to as Chistye in the water industry. However, there is no Prudy (Clean Ponds) (Fig. 1). guarantee that fragmentation of the great Russian rivers and overflowing of man-made Nowadays, Moscow has some 76 ponds seas, which were disastrous for wildlife and (Fig. 2). They are mainly used for recreation. damaging to the population, are a thing Some ponds are reserved for swimming. of the past. Meanwhile, the biosphere Ponds are filled with surface-, subterranean-, mechanism controlled by the fine-tuned and rainwater. The quality of water in interaction between the planetary biota Moscow’s ponds is often rather low. Most and non-living matter is already very much of the ponds have lost their natural capacity disturbed by the unbridled exploration of for self-purification and the banks are not the planet. protected against washouts and sliding. Activities aimed at keeping the ponds within PONDS the sanitary standards include: pumping of polluted water, collecting litter, dredging, There were far more ponds in the past. covering the bottom with gravel and sand, To give you an example, Moscow ponds protecting from sewage waters, landscaping were used for breeding fish. They provided the banks, filling with fresh water, reclaiming ggi413.inddi413.indd 6666 115.01.20145.01.2014 99:17:31:17:31 ENVIRONMENT 67 Fig. 1. Chistye Prudy in Moscow the adjacent terrain, introducing aquatic to accumulate snow and to prevent snow organisms, installing feeders for birds, and a from being blown away by wind; and c) by number of other activities [Moscow Ponds accumulating water in the ponds during the ..., 2007]. thaw, after which this water is redirected to the lowland meadows and fields to Both in the Tsarist Russia and during the temporarily flood them. Deployment of Soviet era before the collectivization, these and some other emergency measures which led to the compulsory formation of in such arid regions as Voronezh, Kharkov, collective farms, watermills and sawmills and Dnepropetrovsk proved to be efficient. running on water from the ponds were Experimental fields showed improved commonly used in the agricultural sector. microclimate and increased yields. About The Nechernozemye region, since it was 60,000 water engines were still in operation well-supplied with water resources, had in the country in the 1930s. By the 1950s, the best potential for the creation of pond almost all water and wind engines were engines. out of operation due to wear and tear, and because of massive overflows of reservoirs, Ponds were in especially high demand in which caused the rural lands to be flooded arid areas of Central and Southern European [Shipunov, 1988]. Russia since the 19th century due to the increased damage from severe droughts and MAN-MADE SEAS crop failures. These disasters were especially devastating in 1890–1892. V.V. Dokuchayev The idea to tap the power of the largest offered to capture and accumulate moisture Russia’s rivers has originated a long time in agricultural soils: a) by compacting snow ago. The project of the Zhiguli Hydropower on the fields; b) by creating forest strips Station (presently the Kuybyshevskaya ggi413.inddi413.indd 6677 115.01.20145.01.2014 99:17:31:17:31 Hydropower Station) on the Volga was political situation in Europe in 1920s–1930s developed in 1913 by G.M. Krzhizhanovsky. forced Josef Stalin and his entourage to use The Bratsk Hydropower Station project on the tough social and economic measures in order Angara was presented to the governor-general to make a quantum leap in the field of military of Irkutsk by A. Krutikov as early as in 1906.