Environmental Rehabilitation of Volga-Akhtuba Floodplain

Abstract

The research considers the water bodies of the Volga-Akhtuba floodplain requiring an optimal hydrological regime, aimed at preserving floodplain oak groves, soil fertility, spawning sites and at the development of the territory agricultural potential. New solutions are presented, aimed at complex approach to floodplain territory rehabilitation, at minimization of floodplain degradation and at its restoration, instead of traditional hydro-mechanized work on cleaning tracts, eriks and lakes of the floodplain. A phased restoration of the floodplain natural state and creation of balanced ecosystem with an operating self-purification mechanism are planned as a result of the proposed measures being implemented. These measures enable to increase the acreage of irrigated lands for vegetable crops by accumulating spring flood waters in the water bodies of Volga-Akhtuba floodplain.

Return to Nature: Renaturisation of Dried-Out Lakes in Poland

“…Intensive and unregulated anthropogenic activities result in the disturbance of the natural physicochemical parameters of water bodies and a reduction in biodiversity [8]. In reference to one of the elements of the hydrosphere (wetlands), Long et al [9] pointed out that the incorporation of a relevant historical perspective into management and protection is important for an understanding of the ways in which the effects of ecological disasters can be mitigated.…”