Northern river reversal

The Davydov Plan was a project for the transformation of nature in Russia, which was also known under the name " The Great Stalin Plan for the transformation of nature ." The Siberian rivers Ob and Yenisei should be diverted to make the remote drylands used for agriculture around the Aral Sea and the Caspian Sea through irrigation.

The project was announced in 1950 by the Council of Ministers of the USSR and abandoned in 1986 because neither costs the possible consequences were estimated.

Exact plan projects

The Siberian rivers Ob and Yenisei two should be dammed to form a reservoir, which is about the size of Germany without the " new" federal states. Then they should be connected by a channel and transferred in water to the Irtysh. The lowest point, the lowlands along the river Turgai in the Kazakh threshold, should be overcome by a 70 m deep incision. From this valley from the water would be through a duct to the Aral Sea, leading from the several sub-channels, and thus flowed into the Caspian lowland - Aralo.

Effects

Due to the huge size of the planned dam much -needed water would evaporate, which would thus be lost. In addition, the vegetation would be destroyed, both forests, which would be very important for the timber industry, as well as other vegetation. Another problem is that there are huge oil reserves under the planned reservoir. This lake and the groundwater caused thereby increase there would be a Landversumpfung, which in turn would destroy a lot of vegetation. Western Siberia is already very plagued by stagnation. A next problem would be the diminished supply of fresh water into the Arctic Ocean. Thus, the salt water content would increase, which means that ice forms slowly. The small amount of ice would lead to global warming, air belt might move up to 400 km to the north. This is a contradiction to actually projects, namely the increase of agricultural land. The abundance of fish would decrease, which also is an important factor of the Russian economy. Moreover, the risk of flooding would increase.

On the other hand, one could save the Aral Sea, which has become much smaller by water extraction of its tributaries, and the Caspian Sea. Another positive is also to be noted that hydroelectric power plants could be built to generate electricity. Due to the relatively safe water supply, agricultural productivity and the yield could be increased.

Trouble

Defects channels cause immense costs, but that probably most serious problem is that the rivers in the upper reaches are frozen up to six months per year. Overall, the Davydov plan is very questionable due to the high costs involved and the intervention in nature and climate.