NAWAPA AND TWO SIBERIAN WATER-DIVERSION PROPOSALS: A GEOGRAPHICAL COMPARISON AND APPRAISAL

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Abstract
Three water diversion proposals of continental magnitude—the Nawapa plan for North America and two plans for Siberia and Central Asia-are compared and analyzed. The Nawapa plan, first put forward in the mid- 1960's, is found to have little prospect of being realized because of complex, expensive engineering and great potential environmental hazards. Similarly the Davydov plan of the early 1950's, envisaging the diversion of Siberian rivers to arid Central Asia, is viewed as an impractical engineering exercise. The more recent Soviet proposal, by Soyuzvodproyekt, the government's Water Management Design Institute, appears to have a greater chance of being implemented, although alternative modes and routes are still being evaluated and the environmental consequences-for Siberia are causing concern. (See also Soviet Geography, November 1972.)