LARGE-SCALE RESEARCH AND ENGINEERING PROGRAMS FOR THE TRANSFORMATION OF NATURE IN THE SOVIET UNION AND THE ROLE OF GEOGRAPHERS IN THEIR IMPLEMENTATION

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Abstract
A number of large-scale regional environmental amelioration programs, involving the participation of geographers, are reviewed. In the European part of the Soviet Union, the key problem is the improvement of the water supply in the southern and southeast portions, mainly for irrigation, by diverting water from the northern watershed. The ultimate aim is the creation of a maneuverable regional water-management system (similar to an electric power grid) that would make possible the transfer of water from surplus areas to deficit areas. In Central Asia and southern Kazakhstan, more efficient use needs to be made of subsurface water resources and of drainage waters emanating from irrigation systems before the long planned interbasin transfer of water from Siberia can be considered. In Western Siberia, the key problem is the expanding swamp formation and waterlogging process in the Ob' River basin, which poses a serious obstacle to economic development and the present building up of the oil and gas industry. In the final analysis, both the reclamation of the West Siberian plain and the supplementing of the water supply in Central Asia must be considered as part of an overall program of environmental amelioration for the so-called Midland region, involving the diversion of surplus Siberian water to the south. Though feasible from the engineering standpoint, this would be a highly complex and costly undertaking, requiring careful consideration of a host of environmental and economic factors. Ameliorative modification has received less attention in the eastern portion of the Soviet Union in view of sparser settlement and the lesser anthropogenic pressure on the environment. But the increased resource use that is now getting under way may also call for large-scale programs in the future.

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