Critical analysis of water quality monitoring in the Russian Federation and former Soviet Union

• Published in: Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
• Main Authors: Zhulidov, Alexander V, Khlobystov, Vladimir V, Robarts, Richard D, Pavlov, Dmitry F
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Canadian Science Publishing 2000
• Subjects: Arctic; Arctic Ocean
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/f00-140; http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/f00-140

Water quality in Russia has both domestic and international consequences. Domestically, it allows for appropriate management of aquatic systems; internationally, surface flow from present Russian and former Soviet Union territory into international waters (e.g., Arctic Ocean and Aral, Black, and Caspian seas) has important implications for global contamination levels and for developing future management plans. Although during the Soviet era the Russian water quality monitoring network was one of the most extensive in the world, numerous anomalies identified in Russian data by domestic and foreign scientists have been referred to the authors for comment. A holistic assessment of the purpose and current status of the Russian water quality monitoring program is essential because of the difficulty that "outsiders" have in obtaining unbiased information about the program and because this is the principal historical database on water quality that is available for the former U.S.S.R. and Russian Federation. Apart from chronic underfunding, the main problems that need to be addressed are poor functioning of the system, including network design, choice of parameters, sample collection, analytical conditions and data quality, data handling, data products, and issues of access, and the larger question of institutionalized flexibility required to meet local data needs.