Current status of water objects in Russia

. The issues of the current state of water bodies in the Russian Federation are considered and their comparative characteristic with other countries, mainly Western European ones, is given. By a resolution adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2018, a system of global indicators for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and targets for the period up to 2030 was approved, and one of these targets is devoted to the state of water bodies. Despite large water resources, Russia already has serious problems with the quality of water in water bodies and the degree of financing of water protection measures. The water quality of such rivers as the Neva and the Volga was very high a few decades ago, but now it causes serious concerns. For some ingredients, the concentration of pollutants exceeds the maximum allowable concentrations hundreds of times. Since the 1990s and up to the present time, the relative financing of water protection measures (as a percentage of GDP) in the Russian Federation has been constantly decreasing. The efficiency of the use of financial resources is also decreasing.


Introduction
To properly carry out water protection activities, it is necessary to objectively assess the existing state of water quality of water bodies in the retrospective and, after analyzing the outcomes plan and implement water protection measures. Consideration of those or other issues of solving the problem of effective planning and implementation of water protection measures were devoted to works [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8].
Based on a resolution adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2018, a system of global indicators of achievement of the goals in the field of sustainable development and achievement of targets until 2030 was developed [The system of global indicators of achievement of the goals in the field of sustainable development and achievement of targets. 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. 2020, 31 p. https://unstats.un.org ' sdgs ' indicators], according to which the main goals in the field of water use should be: • Ensure the availability and rational use of water resources and sanitation for all; • Ensure universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water for all; • improve water quality by reducing pollution, eliminating waste discharges and minimizing releases of hazardous chemicals and materials, halving the proportion of untreated wastewater, and significantly increasing recycling and safe reuse of wastewater worldwide; • Significantly improve the efficiency of water use in all sectors and ensure the sustainable abstraction and delivery of fresh water to address water scarcity and significantly reduce the number of people suffering from water scarcity; • Increase international cooperation and support for capacity building in developing countries in water and sanitation activities and programs, including water harvesting, desalination, water efficiency, wastewater treatment, and recycling and reuse technologies. There is no separate expenditure line for environmental protection measures in the FTP RTSD. Meanwhile, there are significant problems in this area as well.
The situation with the development of railway transport is even more surprising. As noted in the Program, five subjects of the Russian Federation have no railroads. Due to the lack of transport rail support 23 large explored deposits of natural resources are not developed.
There is a strong correlation between the requirements for the quality of wastewater and the amount of funding for water protection measures [Chernikov N ]. High requirements with little funding, as well as ignoring scientific developments create a corrupt (deadlock) situation.

Water reserves
Water, especially fresh water, is now an extremely important strategic resource. Global water consumption has increased in recent years, and it is feared that there is simply not enough water for everyone. Table 1 shows the rating of 10 countries that have the largest water resources in the world, among which is the Russian Federation. As the analysis shows, even in these countries there are problems with water use both in terms of water quantity in certain areas and its quality.
Meanwhile, about a billion people in 28 countries do not have access to as many vital resources. About 2.5 billion people live in areas experiencing moderate to severe water shortages. This number is expected to rise to 5.5 billion by 2025, representing two-thirds of the world's population.

About the state of water protection in Europe France
The French water law itself is quite dynamic, and several laws on water resources have been adopted. Water management in France is based on the principle of decentralization. Since 1994, France has published a comprehensive report on the environment every four years to its international obligations. The seventh edition of this report was released on October 24, 2019.
According to the 2019 Environmental Report, water quality is improving at the surface (sea, lakes, and rivers), where chemical content is decreasing, such as nitrates, whose concentration in surface water decreased by 12% from 1998 to 2017, and pesticides, whose presence in metropolitan areas decreased by 19% from 2008-2017 [https://www.lesechos.fr/politique-societe/societe/les-ressources-en-eau-de-la-franceencore-beaucoup-trop-polluees-1142838 [Electronic resource], access date 24.02.2022.] But 66 % of the volumes withdrawn for drinking water supply account for groundwater, the condition of which has deteriorated very much. Since 2000 about 2400 water intakes out of almost 22000, i.e. more than 10%, have been abandoned due to excessive pollution. The main "culprit" is a nitrate, the presence of which, despite the reduction in the use of nitrogen fertilizers, remains excessive: in 2017, 35% of the country had nitrate concentrations above the threshold of 25 mg/l.
The modernization of treatment plants and the virtual disappearance of phosphates in detergents have led to a reduction of almost 50% of these pollutants in the water of water bodies. As a consequence: in 2018, 98% of bathing facilities in France met European standards. The reduction of organic substances in watercourses improves their biological quality.
However, these advances are offset by other pollutants that cannot be eliminated despite changes in agricultural and industrial practices. In general, nitrate levels in watercourses, springs, and groundwater remain consistently high, especially in Brittany (impact of livestock production), in Ile-de-France, and the Central Region (impact of field crops). Intensive farming in these areas leads to significant amounts of nitrogen that end up in water bodies or groundwater. Farming practices are moving toward a more rational use of fertilizers, but they are slow.
Pollution of surface and groundwater by pesticides is also a matter of concern. Pesticides are harmful to water quality and public health. The amount of pesticides in use is decreasing, but some of them persist in the environment for several decades after their use. In addition, during this period, the original pesticides can be transformed into decomposition products that are just as dangerous as the original substances. 90% of pesticides come from agricultural activities (field crops, viticulture, gardening) and 10% come from local communities (treatment of public areas, along transport routes) and households (vegetable gardens, green spaces, alleys).

Germany
One of Germany's environmental policy priorities is the Water Policy. The water law is the oldest in environmental law. Bavaria initiated and drafted the first three laws as early as 1852: laws on water use, irrigation and enterprise drainage, and coastal protection and flood protection. Shortly thereafter, there were attempts to consolidate the laws into a coherent whole. But this was not done until 1960 when the Federal Water Protection Act [https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/whg_2009/BJNR258510009.html Gesetz Zur Ordnung des Wasserhaushalts (Wasserhaushaltsgesetz-WHG) [Electronic Resource], access date 24.02.2022] came into force, which was amended in 2009, and the latest update of this law is dated August 18, 2021.
The organization and development of water supply and sanitation within the framework of water laws are among the traditional mandatory tasks of local governments. As owners of small water bodies, they are called to take care of their maintenance. To cover the costs arising from this, the local government receives contributions (fees) from users. There are numerous laws and regulations for this purpose, and the framework of the legislation is defined by the federal structure and the distribution of tasks goes on the federal level, the requirements of the European Union are subject to compulsory implementation. Table 2 shows the evolution of expenditures for the Ministry of Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety in the German budget from 2015 to 2021 [https://rugeld.de/country/national-budget/expenditures-environment.html [Electronic resource], access date 24.02.2022.], with the data for 2021, the main part is allocated to radioactive waste and climate protection, while environmental protection is allocated about 10 % of the total amount. Germany is currently one of the most advanced countries in the field of water technology and water management both in Europe and worldwide. This applies not only to the careful protection of water bodies, for example through well-equipped sewage treatment plants with a high level of consumer connection to the sewage network, but also to the economical consumption of drinking water [https://www.umweltbundesamt.de/sites/default/files/medien/publikation/long/2754.pdf Rudolf K.W. The water sector in Germany. Methods and experience, 2001 [Electronic resource], access date 24.02.2022]. As a consequence, the protection of water bodies in Germany is an example of a successful environmental policy [11]. The economic development that began after World War II quickly led to exceeding the limits of water body pollution. An example of successful international cooperation is the Rhine, which from a "drain of Europe" became a river in which salmon returned. Special challenges in the development of the water sector were the sanitation and establishment of a modern water supply and sewage system in the new federal states after reunification. However, not all water management problems have been solved in Germany either, primarily the reorientation to environmentally friendly farming methods is necessary.

State of water protection in Russia
Even though Russia carries out a significant amount of water protection measures and there are a variety of technological solutions for wastewater treatment [Ivanov V.G., Chernikov N.A. Water supply and drainage systems of industrial enterprises: textbook.-M.: FGBU DPO "Educational and methodological center for education in railway transport", 2018.-737 p.], due to insufficient funding for water protection and errors in the development of the regulatory framework in the field of water disposal, the water quality of water bodies remains unsatisfactory [9].
The volume of financing for water protection measures in the Russian Federation from 1992-2019 and the effectiveness of the use of financial resources can be judged by the data presented in Figure 1 [Russian statistical yearbook. 2020: Stat. Sat/Rosstat. M., 2020-700 p.].

1-investment in fixed capital aimed at the protection of water resources, % of GDP; 2commissioning of wastewater treatment plants, (m 3 /day)/ (million $); 3-commissioning of water recycling systems, (m 3 /day)/ (million $)
To a large extent, it is the lack of funding and inefficient use of financial resources can be explained by the fact that the dynamics of the discharge of some pollutants in the composition of wastewater discharged into surface water bodies of the Russian Federation, 2010-2019 unfavorable - Table 3    SCWPI is a relative index of the degree of pollution of surface waters, conditionally evaluating in the form of a dimensionless number the proportion of the polluting effect contributed to the overall degree of water pollution, due to the simultaneous presence of several pollutants, on average, one of the ingredients and water quality indicators considered in the calculation of the combinatorial index. The SCWQI can vary in waters with varying degrees of contamination from 1 to 16, the higher its value corresponds the worst the water quality. Table 4 shows the most polluted water bodies in the Russian Federation [State report "On the state and protection of the environment of the Russian Federation in 2019" Moscow, Ministry of Natural Resources and Ecology of the Russian Federation, 2020, 1848 p.].
This table presents the classification of water pollution degree-conditional division of the whole range of composition and properties of natural water under anthropogenic impact into different intervals with a gradual transition from "conditionally clean" to "extremely dirty" by values of the combinatorial index of water pollution, taking into account several additional factors. The following water quality classes are used in this work: Class 1-conditionally clean; 2nd class-slightly polluted; Class 3: class "a"-polluted; class "b"-very polluted; 4th class: class "a"-dirty; class "b"-dirty; class "c"-very dirty; class "d"-very dirty; 5th class is extremely dirty. As can be seen from the table, there are cases where even within the city, according to the class of water quality, it is characterized as "dirty" or even "extremely dirty.
Even more convincing information is presented in Table 5, which provides statistical data on the quality indicators of surface waters of the great Russian rivers-the Neva and the Volga.
The following notations are used in this table: N-number of determinations of the corresponding ingredient; P1, P10, P100-repeatability (number of cases per year) of the content of a polluting ingredient in water above 1, 10, 100 MAC, in %. Frequency (P %) of exceeding MPC of ingredients and indicators of surface water quality in the Volga River basin.
As can be seen from Table 5 in the waters of the Neva and Volga River basins there were cases of 100-fold excess of the maximum allowable concentrations for some pollutants.

The practice of nature management in Russia
The practice of nature management in Russia at present is characterized by the interaction of separate elements of administrative regulation and economic mechanisms [9]. Meanwhile, as international experience shows, the greatest economic advantage in the field of nature management and, in particular, the protection of water bodies, has the creation of a market of services in the field of environmental protection activities.
The lack of established market relations in Russia in the sphere of water discharge and protection of water resources leads to unreasonably high norms and low tariffs for water consumption and water disposal, which is economically irrational and contradicts the world trends in this field.
It should be noted very low levels of funding for environmental protection in Russia compared to other countries. Meanwhile, climatic and infrastructural conditions in Russia are more complicated than in most of the above countries, so the cost of environmental protection activities, even with the same requirements for the state of the environment should be at least not less than in other countries. However, the maximum standards for concentrations of pollutants in wastewater when discharged into water bodies and water disposal systems in Russia are sometimes set more stringent than in other countries. This circumstance, in many cases, hinders the inflow of foreign investment, since compliance with Russian water protection laws is economically unprofitable for firms.
As an outcome, almost all water users become hostages of the current situation, as there is usually insufficient funding to meet the required standards.
When trying to implement market relations in the field of water use in our country, there are several difficulties, the main of which are as follows: • There is no legal basis for regulating such relationships; • financing opportunities for water protection measures do not, as a rule, allow us to achieve the required values of maximum permissible discharges (MPD) of pollutants in the required time; this obligates us either to significantly increase financing of environmental protection measures to the detriment of other areas of economic activity or to reduce quality requirements for wastewater discharged into water bodies by our capabilities.
It is known that in the USA and EU countries in the last decade, taking into account the real possibilities of financing, new, as a rule, less stringent requirements to permissible emissions of pollutants have been established in comparison with the previous ones. These actions are aimed primarily at the implementation of market mechanisms in environmental protection activities in their entirety; • Lack of a reasonable methodology for determining permissible discharges of pollutants into municipal wastewater networks, depending on the maximum permissible concentrations (MPC) of pollutants discharged into water bodies, which often leads to a paradoxical situation: in many cases, requirements for wastewater discharged by water users into municipal wastewater networks are ten times stricter than those for drinking water

Conclusion
The outcomes of the analysis of the current situation in the environmental condition of water bodies indicate the need to intensify investment in environmental processes. For this purpose it is necessary to improve economic methods of stimulation of nature protection investments, for example: to raise rates of payments for negative influence on the environment, use accelerated amortization of the basic nature protection funds, to give preferential credits under the state guarantee for nature protection purposes, to apply tax discounts at ecological investments or completely release enterprises from payment of profit tax at the expense of which nature protection expenses are financed. A transition is needed from the residual principle of financing environmental protection to a targeted increase in targeted government spending. If environmental investment grows, a significant improvement of the environmental situation in the country is possible, but this requires serious joint work by the government, businesses, and the public.