30 July - 5 August 2012 - orsam

Russia’s Orenburg Region Plans Regional Water Strategy
Russia, ORENBURG — Some 40-60 percent of water assets in Russia‘s Orenburg Region are
degraded beyond the point at which they should be used, leading to a poor standard of drinking water
and inadequate levels of environmental protection, Orenburg Governor Yuri Berg acknowledged last
week.
Berg‘s remarks came during a high-level roundtable meeting of regional officials on July 25 to plan a
strategy for local implementation of the Clean Water Program.
Local sources have suggested that the governor‘s figures are in fact optimistic, that the level of
degradation is higher than he stated and the problem more serious. However, the overall results of the
meeting were positive, in that the local government is taking action to reverse the negative trend of
the last 30 years.
During the meeting, mayors of smaller towns in the region were criticized for using short-term
measures, such as patching up leaking pipes, to hide the underlying problems with water
infrastructure.
However, the mayors may not be entirely to blame, as previously the funding required for large-scale
projects was simply not available.
In keeping with similar provincial applications of the Clean Water Program, the majority of funding
for the development of Orenburg‘s water infrastructure will come from a mixture of federal money
and local government taxation, with the rest to be made up from price increases for customers of the
local vodokanal (water company).
The money will be used for a massive overhaul of the fresh and wastewater systems across most of
the region, including the extension into some rural areas that have previously had no water services.
The bulk of the money will be spent in the city of Orenburg itself, with the precise formula for
division of funds within the region yet to be decided.
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