The head of the Ministry of Natural Resources allowed the emergence of a national project to improve the health of water bodies

The government is discussing the extension of the Ecology national project until 2030, said the head of the Ministry of Natural Resources, Alexander Kozlov. According to him, the creation of a separate national project to clean up rivers and improve the health of water bodies is also being considered.

The minister believes that Russia “needs a national project related to water.” “Over the course of the year, we tried to collect all the problems associated with this issue – with the cleaning of rivers, the possibility of their environmental improvement,” Mr. Kozlov told RIA Novosti.

He clarified that more than 111 million people live near Russian rivers, which confirms the importance of resolving issues of navigation, building treatment facilities, and protecting local residents from floods. The head of the Ministry of Natural Resources did not say when the new national project could be launched.

The expansion of the federal program for the improvement of water bodies began after President Vladimir Putin’s message to the Federal Assembly on February 21. According to current plans, the implementation of the project for 2025–2030 will have an impact on 85% of Russian residents living in large river basins. To the federal project will enterin particular, the waters of the Neva and Volkhov rivers in the Leningrad region.

Laura Keffer