Regional differences in public access to centralized water supply and safe drinking water in Russia

Abstract

A review of the knowledge of the problem of centralized water supply and providing the population with drinking water throughout Russia is given. The data on the provision of housing in federal districts with centralized water supply in 2000–2017 are given. The growth of deterioration of the water supply network and its influence on the increase in the share of leaks in the total volume of water supplied to the network is shown. The state of plumbing is estimated as a crisis. The number of accidents in the water supply system after 2005 is decreasing, but still 2–3 times higher than European figures. Water withdrawal from groundwater sources for domestic water supply averages around 47% of the total water used for this purpose in Russia. Water intakes from surface water bodies do not have the necessary complex of sewage treatment plants and do not provide complete disinfection and water treatment. The average daily water consumption of urban and rural residents as a result of the introduction of a complex of water-saving measures decreased by 110 liters or 43%. For the years 2000–2017 the proportion of unsatisfactory samples for sanitary-chemical indicators in reservoirs of the first category decreased by only 2 percentage points, and for microbiological indicators – by 5.5. The main reason for the poor health of sources of centralized water supply is the lack of sanitary protection zones.