The X-th International Forum "Ecology" on the territory of the Radisson Collection Hotel Moscow congress park took place on March 25-26 in Moscow. The event linked to the problems and prospects for the development of water and utilities as one of the most important components of Russia's ecological health.

A number of problems in this area is very large. During the sessions, issues were discussed about the prospects for the development of the water and utilities sector. But the most burning topic of the event raised by participants was  the problem of greatest environmental damage to the environment and the health of Russian citizens, which today became real because of non-working water supply and sanitation networks (up to 85% in various regions of the Russian Federation). Due to their wear and tear, the number of accidents is steadily raising, the loss of drinking water and the leakage of hazardous industrial and domestic waste water are increasing sharply.

In his speech, Igor Efremov, Director General of Svobodny Sokol, a member of the Public Council of the ANO Public Forum Ecology, described this topic in detail. According to his words, the terrible state of water-bearing pipelines is the main cause of the increasingly aggravating problem of poor quality of drinking water in the Russian Federation.

“The reasons for the decreasing water quality are not so much in the lack of purification during extraction and water treatment. The technical factor causes the greatest damage - leaky  pipes and bootleg pipes threaten environment, - said Igor Efremov. - Extremely worn sewer networks, losses in which according to official data of ROSSTAT constitute more than 30%, and in fact much more, cause incomparably greater environmental damage in comparison with the problem of accumulation of solid waste, because leakage causes pollution by industrial and storm sewage and wastes human soil, groundwater and sources of drinking water intake. And this is fraught with mass poisoning of the population, rapid growth in utility tariffs. ”

According to ROSSTAT, about 44% of water supply pipelines and 45% of sewage networks already require replacement. Their renovation is extremely slow, does not exceed 1.5% of the total length per year, while the rate of increase of wear is 3% per year. This trend threatens to collapse the water supply and wastewater industry.

The situation is aggravated by the lack of a comprehensive technical policy in the field of water supply and sanitation in the Russian Federation, which contributes to the massive use of counterfeit and falsified pipe products (more than 35% of the market), as well as used steel pipes (more than 15% in the housing sector).

The situation was discussed by experts during the whole forum. Forum “Ecology” is the most interesting place to discuss different problems for Russia environment, Traditionally in the end a final document was signed to prevent ecological problems but in order to do it we must work together.