Andrew Jordan

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Storm clouds over the Kuban Sea

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Kuban. The main river of the Kr...t the mouth of the Sea of Azov.

Kuban. The main river of the Krasnodar Territory in the South of Russia. It originates from the sources in the glaciers of the Caucasus from Mount Elbrus and collects in its basin the waters of other numerous mountain and lowland rivers throughout the region (Pshish, Psekups, Laba, Belaya and others). The river, which is about a thousand kilometers long, ends its journey at the mouth of the Sea of Azov.

Previously, it was full-water, ...e hot, dry summer in the south.

Previously, it was full-water, navigable, rich in fish and commercial. Now this river is a sad sight. In the 70s of the last century, the Soviet leadership carried out a project to build a grandiose dam on the Kuban River and a huge reservoir called the "Kuban Sea". The vast man-made reservoir, huge (400 sq. km) and shallow (average depth of 5 m), was supposed to solve the problem of reclamation of rice checks - rice plantations that require a lot of water during the hot, dry summer in the south.

During the construction of the ...contradicted the state economy.

During the construction of the Kuban Sea, several dozens of ancient settlements of the Caucasian people "Adygi" were flooded, which were moved after the Caucasian War from mountain villages to the plains of the Kuban. And now, 100 years later, thousands of unfortunate Adygs were again driven out of their homes to flood their fertile arable land, fruit orchards and ancestral cemeteries with the Krasnodar reservoir. It was the tragedy of an entire nation. But in the USSR, no one took into account the interests of small nations when they contradicted the state economy.

As a result of the construction...;s largest rice-growing region.

As a result of the construction of the reservoir, the food problem in the USSR was solved for several decades and the task "harvest of a million tons of Kuban rice"was completed. Kuban has become the country's largest rice-growing region.

But also, the more time passed,...pulation in danger of flooding.

But also, the more time passed, the more noticeable environmental problems made themselves felt. The climate of the Kuban plain has become more humid, and the fish resources of the river have significantly decreased. Due to the fact that mountain rivers carry a lot of sand and clay with them in the flood, the basin of the reservoir began to silt up and the useful volume of the reservoir decreased. As a result, during the spring flood, the water level began to rise to dangerous levels, threatening to overflow over the concrete dam of the reservoir, which puts the agglomeration of the city of Krasnodar with its million population in danger of flooding.

And at the end of August 2020 (...ing grows except stunted grass.

And at the end of August 2020 (oh, this anomalous year!), the other extreme happened - the reservoir, having reached the "dead volume", dried up. The output of water from it to the rice cheques became minimal, which led to drought and the threat of crop destruction. Naturally, all shipping stopped. The fish died.
The lifeless bottom was exposed, covered with a thick crust of cracked silt. There was a partially swampy dead zone, terrible and useless, on which there is no fertile layer and nothing grows except stunted grass.

No one seems to have understood...know where this will lead next.

No one seems to have understood where the water of the Kuban Sea went and why it happened. Scientists-hydrologists, as usual, throw up their hands "this has never happened and here it is again." Yes, there was a snowless winter and a dry summer, but this is typical for the South of Russia, nevertheless, the reservoir dried up for the first time in 60 years! No one seems to know where this will lead next.

One thing is clear - man has up...st favorable regions of Russia.

One thing is clear - man has upset the delicate balance of the ecosystem, imagining himself a god-creator of nature, and there is an inevitable reckoning that future generations will fully experience. This is the beginning of the climate crisis in one of the most favorable regions of Russia.