The Problem of Transformation and Utilization of the Water Resources of the Volga River and the Caspian Sea

Abstract

The authors review expected water requirements within the Volga-Caspian basin for industry, agriculture, fisheries and municipal uses and plans for the diversion of the streams of northern European Russia to the south to support the level of the Caspian Sea. They suggest that the diversion of part of the flow of the northern streams and isolation of the natural evaporation basin of the Kara-Bogaz-Gol will be sufficient to maintain the Caspian Sea level at ?28 meters. Previous articles on the Caspian problem appeared in Soviet Geography, September 1961, January 1962, and June 1963.