Clean water for the health of the globe!

       Since 1993 at the initiative of the International Water Association and UNESCO many countries in the world have celebrated the World Water Day.Despite 70% of the Earth surface being covered with water, 97.5% of water is salty. The other 2.5% of fresh water include about 68.7% of frozen water in ice caps and glaciers. Only one percent of the total water resources of the globe is available for man’s use.

    Russia is a great water power with a second in the world after Brazil streamflow, and being third after Brazil and Canada in available water supply per person. The total number of rivers in Russia is 2.5 million, with a total length of 8 million km and the total numbers of 2.7 million lakes. Water capacity in the lakes is about 26.5 thousand cubic km, which includes 23 thousand cubic km of LakeBaikal– which is only 20% of the world surface fresh water supply.

    In the Yaroslavl Oblast there are 4,327 of stream flows. Most of them are brooks and streams which length is less than 10 km. Most of them bring their waters to the main river of the Yaroslavl Oblast – the VolgaRiver as its tributaries or tributaries’ tributaries. Such water abundance imposes on Russia special commitments before mankind for protection of this vital natural resource.

    As Benjamin Franklin said: “When the well’s dry we know the worth of water.” A lot of countries facing problems with water absolutely agree with this saying and try to preserve and enrich the resources that are left.

    March 22, 2005 was the World Water Day to mark the beginning of the decade under the aegis of “Water for life”. As for the current year of 2010 – it will go under the slogan: “Clean water – for the healthy world!”.

     Environmental specialists throughout the world call for protection of the natural wealth as the health of everyone depends on it as well as the further life on the planet. Each of us should contribute as much as possible to maintain our vital sources clean, be it a horizonless sea or a small stream. We all should treat the water resources so as not to be ashamed for a single action when summing up the expiring year.

At the meeting in the Northern Water Treatment Plant of Yaroslavlvodokanal, part as follows: Sergey Kruglik, Deputy Minister for Regional Development, Valery Leshchenko, Yaroslavlvodokanal General Director, as well as City and Oblast executives: Sergey Vakhrukov, Yaroslavl Oblast Governor, Victor Volonchunas, Yaroslavl City Mayor, Vladimir Sleptsov, Deputy Mayor for Municipal Economy and Vladimir Smirnov, Deputy Mayor for Urban Development. Sergey Kruglik familiarized himself with the company as a whole, the outputs of the investment project which was co-financed with the proceeds of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, introduction of the new technologies of monitoring and control of production processes – SCADA system, and had a site visit to the upgraded facilities. The participants discussed the issues of raising investments into the Russian municipal sector, perspective development of the water company and achievement of the utility’s goals in the services quality improvement.

Sergey Vakhrukov

Sergey Vakhrukov clearly indicated that the Clean Water project has actually started, with no need to wait till the year 2010 has come.

As Alexander Lebedev, Director of the Oblast Housing and Municipal Services and Infrastructure Department of the Yaroslavl Oblast, added – implementation of the Clean Water Oblast purpose-oriented programme will help address the most urgent problems. For five years its implementation will be funded from the Federal, Oblast and local budgets, as well as the off-budget funds will provide more than RUB 5 billion. Priority will be placed on those projects, which envisage application of new water treatment and disinfection technologies.

According to the data from Victor Volonchunas, the Yaroslavl City Mayor, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is considering allocation of a loan amounting to RUB 1.5 billion for construction of Vozdvizhenie Water Treatment Plant of capacity of 100,000 m3/day. The local contribution will amount to RUB 500 million. The project will adopt a concession form, implying a long-term lease by new operators, who will have to perform a number of obligations. This is required as Yaroslavlvodokanal is one of the backbone utilities of the Housing and Municipal Sector in the City.

 

Vladimir Sleptsov, First City Mayor Deputy, is entrusted with coordination of utilities within the housing and municipal complex.

 



Evgeny Ofrikhter, the EBRD representative expressed satisfaction with the mutual work that has been done so far and ensured that the Bank is ready to continue co-operation.

On behalf of the EBRD Board of Directors, Jean-Louis Six said that the Bank is satisfied with the outcomes of the project implementation in Yaroslavl. «It’s very important for us to see the outputs of our work and particular moments of our relations with municipal entities of Russia. Yaroslavl proved its capabilities for mutual work in this direction», – mentioned the banker. According to his words, combined efforts of the City Administration, Yaroslavlvodokanal and EBRD resulted in a know-how for successful innovations at the intersection of two priority trends for the EBRD – development of local authorities and energy efficiency.