Transboundary zone "Russia – Belarus"

2.2.1. Transboundary zone "Russia – Belarus"

The examined zone partially encompasses the western and central parts of the East-European (Russian) plain, is located at 52-56° north and is attributed to the forest agro-climatic zone. The climate of the region is moderately continental with the yearly precipitation of 530 to 560 mm. The Smolensk and Briansk regions are attributed to large highly industrialized regions of Central Russia. Geographically, these regions favorably compare with others since they are located at a an intersection of important traffic routes from Moscow to Belarus, the Baltic States and central and west European countries. The regions are rich in mineral deposits such as brown coal, peat, phosphorites, deposits of building materials as well as sulphate-calcium and magnesium mineral water resources. The major industries include electric power generation, machine building, metal working, chemistry, consumer goods, food processing and production of building materials. Timber and woodworking industries are also developed. The largest power generation facilities include Smolensk nuclear power plant, Safonov mines administration bureau and Smolensktorf. Agricultural production is for the most part represented by meat and dairy production as well as crop production (the main industrial crops being flax and potatoes). The population density in the regions varies from 30 to 42 persons per 1 sq. km.

The Dnipro Basin accommodates the largest industrialized cities of the Smolensk region whose industries and public utilities negatively affect the surface water quality. First of all these are the city of Smolensk with a population of 300 thou ., and the cities of Viazma, Safonovo, Yartsevo situated on the Dnipro River, Roslavl situated on the Oster River, and Novozybkov situated on the Iput River in the Briansk region with a population of 50 to 60 thou.

According to the State Water Consumption Register (format 2-TP) over the past few years the annual volume of extracted surface water has stood at 72 mn m³ including 5 mn m³ extracted by Smolensk city.

The annual volume of wastewater discharged into natural surface water bodies located in the examined zone has reached 150 mn m³ of which 120 mn m³ are discharged into the Dnipro Basin with Smolensk accounting for 30% of this volume. Of the total volume of discharged wastewater over 80% need treatment.

Significant pollution loads enter water bodies with run-offs from cultivated agricultural land (arable land accounts for 32% of the examined zone) as well as from livestock production farms (the total number of cattle, pigs and poultry raised in the zone are 270 thou, 120 thou and 3 mn, respectively).

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