BLOG
Putin’s Pipe Dream: Russian Scientists Discuss Project to “Redirect” Siberian Rivers
November 21st, 2025
Russian scientists have reportedly asked the Kremlin to fund a feasibility study on diverting water from Russia’s Ob River down to Central Asia. The $100B plan would see a massive plastic pipeline carry up to 22 cubic km (5.3 cubic miles) ofw ater through Kazakhstan into Uzbekistan annually. This idea builds upon a similar Soviet-era […]
Read more »Caspian Sea Level Fallen So Much that Russia and Kazakhstan To Dredge a Channel to Offshore Wells
July 27th, 2025
The water level of the Caspian Sea has fallen to its lowest level in recorded history, restricting the ability of ships to pass through former channels, especially in the sea’s northern portions. In response, Russia and Kazakhstan have announced plans to dredge a channel through increasingly shallow waters to allow their ships to pass. Russia’s […]
Read more »Intensifying Water Shortages in Central Asia will Spark Flood of Immigrants Into Russia
June 25th, 2025
Central Asians who have seen the amount of potable water available to them drop from 8400 cubic meters per capita per year a half century ago to only 2100 now, are certain to flood into the Russian Federation which has more than 20 percent of the world’s reserves of fresh water, Moscow historian Konstantin Menzelintsev […]
Read more »Russia Is Trying to Push River Borders
April 17th, 2025
Via Foreign Policy, a look at how Russia is employing river-related games to impact its neighbors: Almost a year ago, Russian border guards removed half the buoys that had been placed to mark the border between Russia and Estonia in the Narva River. Estonia’s government has repeatedly (and politely) reminded Russia to return the buoys, […]
Read more »Water At War: Kakhovka Dam In Ukraine
March 15th, 2025
Via Phys.org, commentary on the long-term environmental consequences of the destruction of the Kakhovka Dam in Ukraine: Water is misused as a weapon when infrastructure and water resources are deliberately destroyed in armed conflicts. Water resources and infrastructure are also affected by the ongoing armed conflict in Ukraine: In June 2023, the Kakhovka Dam, which […]
Read more »The Shrinking Caspian Sea: An Environmental and Geopolitical Emergency
January 22nd, 2025
Via The Diplomat, an article on allowing the Caspian Sea to succumb to industrial exploitation and climate-induced desiccation would be an irreversible tragedy: Last month, an 18th-century 28-meter wooden shipwreck was discovered off the Mazandaran coast of the Caspian Sea in southern Iran. Operating under Russian influence, the ship likely comprised part of a merchant fleet carrying botanical […]
Read more »