A critic of excessive interbasin diversion of water from the northern to the southern watershed of Eurasia questions some of the estimates of water requirements in the southern regions of the USSR, particularly the amount of water needed to maintain the level of the Caspian Sea. He expresses concern about the impact of reduced runoff into the Arctic Ocean, stressing the role of freshwater in the eaily appearance of young ice in autumn, the heat of river waters in speeding spring breakup and, the role of river waters in generating a well defined gradient current draining water out of the Arctic Ocean into the North Atlantic. (For other perspectives on the north‐south diversion problem, see Soviet Geography, December 1978.)