Europe - UNEP

departure of the younger
generation to large
towns is resulting in a
declining economy.
More than half the
people in the basin do
not earn enough to
cover their cost of living
and a high rate of
unemployment exists.
Environmental problems
are related to the
negative impacts of
forestry and agriculture,
including unsustainable
deforestation and nonpoint-source
pollution. A
high nutrient content in
the basin’s river during
the 1980s led to a
major problem of
eutrophication.
However, with the
dissolution of all
collective farms in
Estonia and economic
depression in Russia in
the 1990s, the nutrient
load of Lake Peipsi has
decreased significantly.
It is estimated that
nitrogen and
phosphorus loads have
decreased by 53% and 44% respectively. The
majority of the remaining phosphorus and
nitrogen compounds enter Lake Peipsi from the
Emajõgi River on the Estonian side and the
Velikaya River on the Russian side. The Emajõgi
carries biologically treated sewage from Pskov,
while the Velikaya transports wastewater from
Tartu, which was untreated until 1998. In addition
to agricultural uses, Lake Peipsi is also heavily
relied upon for commercial fishing, the main
commercial fish being lake smelt, perch, pikeperch,
ruffe, roach, bream and pike; the annual
catch usually amounts to 7,000-8,000 tons.
Figure 5.3 The Narva River Basin.
Within the basin, industrial activities,
particularly the oil-shale industry, also have a
major impact on the water resources. The
wastewaters and gaseous emissions, including
toxic sulphur and nitrogen oxides from power
states and pulverized oil shale affect the chemical
composition of the water in Lake Peipsi. A
significant industrial user of the Narva basin is
the Baltic thermal power plant, which uses water
for cooling purposes, with an average annual
demand of 470 million m 3 .
The Narva basin is a relatively new resource
in transboundary terms, as it became a
transboundary waterway when Estonia separated
from the Soviet Union in 1991. However, a
significant amount of transboundary activities
have been developed in this basin over the last
15 years. For instance, on May 4 th , 1994 a treaty
about the conservation of fish stocks in Lake
76 — Hydropolitical Vulnerability and Resilience along International Waters: Europe