A reservoir is a fairly large body of water created by human hands. This article lists all the edges - names, their sizes, recreation opportunities. How many artificial reservoirs have been created within this region? And how suitable are they for fishing and recreation?
A reservoir is... The largest reservoirs of the Krasnodar Territory
The photo below gives a clear idea that this is an artificial (man-made) hydrological object created for the purpose of accumulating fresh water. They are river or lake.
The water accumulated in such reservoirs is used for a variety of needs: municipal, industrial, agricultural. Some reservoirs are created solely for recreational purposes.
It is known that the first artificial reservoir in the world was made by the hands of the ancient Egyptians (in the 3rd millennium BC). The purpose of its creation was the economic development of lands in the Nile Valley. The first reservoir in Russia was built in the Urals back in 1704. Today, hundreds of man-made lakes of different sizes have been created within the country. And among them, edges occupy an important place. The names of the largest of them are: Krasnodar, Shapsugskoe, Kryukovskoe and Varnavinskoe.
It is worth noting that the creation of such objects radically changes the local landscape and greatly affects the microclimate, flora and fauna of the territory. If a reservoir is built on a large river, then changes in its hydrological regime are noticeable over hundreds of kilometers along the riverbed. Water temperature, ice conditions, current speed change, and the height of wind waves increases.
All reservoirs of the Krasnodar Territory: names and their sizes
Within Krasnodar region nine reservoirs can be counted. Their water is used to generate electricity, irrigate agricultural fields, and supply water to cities and towns. The coastline of these reservoirs is an excellent place for short-term recreation for residents of the region.
All edges are listed below. The list also contains information on the total area of the water surface of reservoirs:
- Krasnodar reservoir (area - 420 square kilometers).
- Shapsugskoe (46 square kilometers).
- Varnavinskoye (45 square kilometers).
- Kryukovskoe (28 square kilometers).
- Takhtamukayskoe (9.5 square kilometers).
- Oktyabrskoye (9 square kilometers).
- Shendzhiyskoye (7.8 square kilometers).
- Neberdzhaevskoe (0.76 square kilometers).
- Maykop (0.5 square kilometers).
The Krasnodar reservoir is the largest in the region
The so-called Kuban Sea is the largest reservoir in the entire North Caucasus. Its total area is 420 square kilometers. The length of the reservoir is 45 kilometers, and the maximum width is 15. The depths here reach 15-20 meters.
The idea to create a huge man-made lake in this place came to Soviet engineers in 1967. Eight years later it was brought to life. During the filling of the reservoir, about two dozen villages went under water. Most local residents moved to new town Adygeisk.
Today, a popular version among Krasnodar residents and residents of the region is that the reservoir is located on one of the tectonic faults. And this, in turn, threatens to flood vast areas. In fact, this is just a myth that has no scientific basis.
On the banks of the reservoir, many recreation centers have been created for fishermen, hunters and ordinary vacationers.
Varnavinskoye Reservoir
Varnavinskoye Reservoir in the Krasnodar Territory is the third largest in this region. It is located ten kilometers northeast of the city of Krymsk. The reservoir was built and launched in 1971. The reservoir stretched almost eleven kilometers in length.
Several villages with poetic names are comfortably located on its shores: Yuzhny, Chernomorsky, Sadovy, Mova... Local residents love and take care of their artificial “sea”.
Varnavinskoye Reservoir is considered a Mecca among fishermen in the region. It is here that the V. Popov Cup for float fishing is held annually.
Kryukovskoye Reservoir
The Kryukovskoye Reservoir in the Krasnodar Territory can perhaps be called one of the most picturesque in the region. It is located west of Krasnodar, near the village of Lvovskoye.
The reservoir was put into operation in 1972. It was created so that it was possible to regulate floods on local rivers, as well as for the purpose of irrigating local arable land. In the near future, reconstruction of the reservoir is planned, providing for strengthening its banks and increasing the dam.
Features of fishing in the reservoirs of the Krasnodar Territory
On the reservoirs of the region you can not only fully relax after hard working days, but also have good fishing. Fishing, as you know, is a great way to relax and gain new vitality. And the numerous fresh reservoirs of the Krasnodar Territory are an excellent place for this purpose.
Here you can find crucian carp, carp, carp, ram, tench, pike, catfish and other types of fish. You can fish in the Krasnodar Territory all year round, with the exception of the period from March 1st to May 31st.
Before you go fishing in one of the region’s reservoirs, you should study as much information as possible about it. This will help you choose a suitable place and select the necessary gear.
Finally…
The reservoirs of the Krasnodar Territory have excellent conditions for recreation. The names of the largest of them: Kryukovskoe, Varnavinskoe, Krasnodarskoe, Shapsugskoe and Oktyabrskoe. On the banks of all these reservoirs you can have a good rest, and even great fishing. Their waters are home to carp and crucian carp, ram and pike, catfish and perch.
In the Kuban region of the Karachay-Cherkess Republic (Kavkazsky village). The reservoir is a bulk reservoir, located in the natural basin of the Great Salt Lake, near the left bank of the Big Stavropol Canal (BSK) between 32-47 km.
The normal retaining level (NRL) is 629 m. The total volume of the reservoir at NRL is 587 million m 3, the useful volume is 500 million m 3, the area of the water surface is 50 km 2, the maximum depth of the reservoir is 30 m. The length of the coastline is 31.4 km. Kubanskoye is the largest reservoir in Karachay-Cherkessia in terms of full and useful volume.
The banks of the reservoir are predominantly low, with the exception of the eastern ones. Small bays are available only in the eastern part of the reservoir.
The reservoir has been in operation since 1967. It is used for seasonal flow regulation: it is filled from the Big Stavropol Canal during the summer flood period, released during the low-water winter period, ensuring the operation of the Kuban hydroelectric power station cascade and the operation of water supply systems fed from the canal. The reservoir is filled and discharged through the structures of the Kuban Pumped Storage Power Plant (PSPP).
The maximum water level is observed in August–September, the minimum in April–May. The level difference in some years reaches 10–15 m. The level decrease occurs in the autumn-winter period; As a result, large areas of the bottom are exposed in the southwestern, shallowest part of the reservoir.
In summer the reservoir is filled with cold Kuban water, as a result of which the water temperature is quite low; the annual average does not exceed 8°C. The reservoir is covered with ice at the end of December, and is cleared of it at the end of March - beginning of April. But in warm winters, such as in 2003/2004, it does not freeze completely. Non-freezing polynyas remained in the winter of 2004/2005.
The reservoir is located in the forest-steppe zone of the northern slope of the Greater Caucasus. Previously, the vegetation in the vicinity of reservoirs was represented by forests of oak, ash, elm, and in the steppe areas - associations of bromegrass, wheatgrass, bearded grass, fescue, feather grass with an admixture of forbs. Currently, steppe vegetation has been preserved only on the steep slopes of the Sychev Mountains. The oak groves have been completely destroyed. The gentle slopes are plowed, the fields alternate with forest belts consisting of oak, ash, maple, elm, poplar, acacia, and apricot.
Large seasonal fluctuations in water levels, high turbidity and relatively low water temperatures during the summer flood period create unfavorable conditions for the growth of submerged and above-water vegetation; The banks are open almost throughout, with grassy low-growing coastal vegetation.
Water mineralization is low, no more than 200 mg/dm3. Monitoring of the water quality of the reservoir is carried out by the Federal State Budgetary Institution “Kuban Center for Monitoring of Water Bodies” in five sections: the village. Caucasian; supply channel to pumped storage power plant; dam of the western part of the reservoir; eastern part (Michurinsky village); With. Happy. The main pollutants are nitrite nitrogen, ammonia nitrogen, and copper. The quality of the water is characterized as “moderately polluted.”
The ichthyofauna is represented by the following species: trout, roach, Caucasian chub, rudd, Caucasian verkhovka, grass carp, North Caucasian long-mouthed gudgeon, Azov-Black Sea shemaya, Near Caucasian bleak, silver crucian carp, silver bream, fisher, carp (carp), bighead carp, pike perch, perch , pipefish.
The villages of Kavkazsky, Michurinsky, and Vodorazdelny are located near the reservoir.
The Krasnodar region is an amazing place that combines a unique climate, rich history, unique cultural heritage and bountiful land, where a huge number of crops grow. People have lived in these territories since ancient times. Moreover, until now archaeologists have not been able to study the entire cultural layer preserved in these places. And partly the construction of the Krasnodar reservoirs prevented them from carrying out their work. Today, seven large man-made reservoirs have been built in the region. We decided to tell readers about three of them, including the largest Krasnodar reservoir, which is often called the sea by common people.
Brief description of the Kuban Sea
The Krasnodar reservoir is considered young, because it has existed on the map of Kuban for only forty years. However, there is a lot in his history interesting facts, about which we will tell readers in more detail a little later.
This artificial reservoir is considered one of the largest in the region and throughout the Caucasus; it is located on a vast territory on the Kuban River. At the same time, it is spread over the lands of the Krasnodar Territory and the Republic of Adygea.
The first project for the construction of a man-made sea was approved in the late sixties, and already in the seventy-fifth year of the last century, the entire area allocated for flooding was filled with water. This process took two years; such a long period allowed all the inhabitants of these lands to be resettled to new places. There were about twenty farms and villages at the bottom of the reservoir. Historians and archaeologists also regret the mounds and burial grounds, which also now rest at the bottom of the freely splashing Kuban Sea.
It is interesting that before the creation of the Krasnodar reservoir, the Tshchikskoye reservoir already existed on these lands, which later became part of the new reservoir. Now its location can be determined by focusing on the half-flooded dam, which can be seen during the planned release of water.
Technical characteristics of an artificial reservoir
The man-made sea currently occupies an area exceeding four hundred thousand square meters. The water level here fluctuates within eight meters. The recorded maximum volume of water was three cubic kilometers.
Surprisingly, the residents of the nearest settlements, which includes Krasnodar, are very wary of this creation of Soviet times. They believe that the reservoir threatens their safety and could one day wash away the city and villages from the face of the earth. However, in fact, the man-made sea has already saved them from serious floods more than fifteen times. By the way, before its construction on these lands, the Kuban flooded at least three times a year. Moreover, the scale of such disasters has always been enormous and many people have suffered from them.
The length of the reservoir is forty kilometers, and the width does not exceed fifteen kilometers.
The purpose of the man-made sea or the main reasons for its construction
The Krasnodar Reservoir, where twenty settlements and about fifty concrete cemeteries lie at the bottom, still causes mixed reactions among local residents. Many do not understand the meaning that the builders intended in its project. Although in fact the plans were more than grandiose.
First of all, the artificial reservoir was supposed to be a salvation from the annual floods and it is worth noting that it still copes with its main function perfectly well. Since Kuban tends to overflow very heavily, as a result of which hundreds of settlements previously suffered, people died and agricultural land deteriorated, its whims today are extinguished by the man-made sea. Even in the most dangerous moments, the reservoir dam withstood a wall of water and prevented it from reaching villages and cities.
The plans of Soviet designers were to create a base for the production of Krasnodar rice. It was near the reservoir that, according to their ideas, vast rice fields and factories for the production of this product with a huge number of jobs should have been located. The artificial reservoir partially fulfilled this mission. Rice is actually grown here, but the planned scale of production has not been achieved.
Another goal of constructing the reservoir was to create a unique recreation area where people from all over would come. Soviet Union. Local residents dreamed of building health resorts, sanatoriums and hotels. However, reality turned out to be far from reality. The man-made sea changed the local climate from dry and hot to humid with plenty of rainfall. People didn’t want to come here on vacation, and besides, the reservoir silts up very quickly, which also does not contribute to its status as a suitable place for swimming. But this state of affairs contributes to fishing near the Krasnodar reservoir. Holidays of this type are very popular here, since the reservoir is very rich in fish and catching them turns into a real pleasure. True, there are no specially organized places for this, which, however, does not upset local residents and visitors too much.
Krasnodar Reservoir: history
Historians say that the bottom of the man-made sea is of real value to archaeologists. After all, many mounds and burial grounds still remain unexcavated. Of course, before the flooding, excavations were carried out in these areas, but this was done in an accelerated manner and not very well. For example, nine hundred burials were uncovered in three months. Archaeologists still find perfectly preserved ancient amphorae and other objects from a bygone era on the local shores and periodically exposed bottom.
I would like to note that those lands that were flooded previously presented a rather bleak picture. The fact is that after frequent floods of the river, small backwaters formed here, which very quickly became swampy. In these dirty reservoirs, mosquitoes actively multiplied, carrying various infections. This made life significantly more difficult for the local population.
Since the sixty-sixth year of the twentieth century, when the construction plan was approved, explanatory work began among the locals, as a result of which about eleven thousand people were resettled. Moreover, many of them did not want to voluntarily leave their homes, in which case they had to use the help of the police.
Two years after the first exploration, construction began and lasted for five years. It took another two years to completely fill the reservoir bed.
Myths and reality
There are a lot of myths about the Kuban Sea. They have haunted the minds of local residents for decades and are actually fictional scarecrows. We have collected in this section all the most common myths and debunked them:
- The reservoir was an ill-conceived project that only caused damage to nature and changed life on the banks of the Kuban for the worse. This myth is the easiest to debunk. After all, it has been proven that it saves literally six hundred thousand hectares of land from floods and inundations. Experts believe that in the absence of a man-made sea, these territories would have long ago turned into a zone of man-made disaster.
- The reservoir is located in a seismic zone. This is an absolutely absurd statement. There are, of course, many faults in the Krasnodar Territory earth's crust, but none of them pass under the pond. This means that its existence cannot cause an earthquake.
- Soon the sea will turn into a swamp due to the constant accumulation of silt. No one can deny that the process of siltation is ongoing, such is the peculiarity of local rivers. However, the reservoir is regularly cleaned, which does not give any chance of disaster.
- The water does not meet accepted standards of purity. This statement is the most ridiculous fiction, because water samples from the reservoir are taken regularly and the percentage of pollutants has never been exceeded.
Despite the fact that the largest reservoir in the Krasnodar Territory brings only benefits, various rumors are constantly circulating about it. But in fact, local residents have a hard time imagining how they would live without this sea.
Varnavinskoye Reservoir, Krasnodar Territory
This reservoir is one of the seven largest in the region. It is located just ten kilometers from the city of Krymsk, which was very seriously damaged by the flood five years ago. People believe that it was the reservoir that caused this disaster, but experts say that it was it that took the brunt of the disaster and without this the city could well have been wiped off the face of the earth by the flow of water.
Description of the reservoir
The history of the Varnavinsky reservoir (Krasnodar region) is quite simple. It appeared in the sixty-fourth year of the last century; several lakes fell into the flood zone, which were famous throughout the region for the abundance of fish. Interestingly, commissioning took place in several stages and lasted for seven years.
The area of the reservoir is approximately forty-two and a half thousand square kilometers, and it is extremely shallow. The average depth does not exceed one and a half meters, in rare places the water reaches two and a half meters.
The reservoir is mainly used as a source for irrigation systems. Without it, it would be extremely difficult to conduct agricultural activities in the surrounding areas.
Mecca for fishermen
The Varnavinskoye Reservoir in the Krasnodar Territory attracts fishermen from all over Russia. Real fishing competitions take place here. The last champion is proud of his catch of sixteen kilograms, and there are also women among the competitors. In general, on the banks of the reservoir you can catch up to fifty species of fish, and hunting enthusiasts will definitely appreciate the opportunity to hunt waterfowl. Guests of these places live at various recreation centers. Of course, they cannot provide luxurious conditions, but an average level of comfort will be provided to vacationers.
Another large man-made reservoir of the Krasnodar Territory
The Kryukov Reservoir in the Krasnodar Territory is also well known. It, like previous reservoirs, is one of the seven large reservoirs. And therefore it arouses great interest among visiting guests.
First of all, this reservoir was built to protect local residents from floods, create a modern irrigation system and fish breeding. He completes all assigned tasks in full.
Seven rivers flow into the reservoir, and quite a few settlements are located on its banks. Novorossiysk, for example, is located only one hundred and ten kilometers from the reservoir.
Characteristics of the man-made sea
The reservoir was built over the course of five years and its bowl was completely flooded by the seventy-second year of the last century. The area of this artificial sea is approximately forty thousand square kilometers. The average depth of the reservoir is three meters, which makes it quite shallow.
A few words about fishing
Amateurs come to the reservoir for fishing very willingly, especially since there are a lot of recreation centers here that provide the most high level service. Visitors can stay in beautiful cottage houses with barbecue facilities, a gazebo and other amenities.
Vacationers are provided with transport and fishing gear for rent. Among all types of fish, the most desirable is pike. If you are lucky, you can easily catch a five-kilogram specimen.
In the coming years, it is planned to begin reconstruction of the reservoir, which will attract even more vacationers to its shores.
TO Rasnodar The reservoir is the third Kuban Sea.
Behind observable history Kuban, until 1973, more than 100 catastrophic spills were recorded on the main water artery of the North Caucasus.
To protect against floods, since the end of the 19th century, local attempts have been made to build flood barriers and dams. However, these pathetic attempts could not cope with the onslaught of the elements; old-timers remember the times when even entire districts of Krasnodar were flooded every two or three years. The devastating floods of 1956, when 156 settlements were flooded, and 1966, when flood damage amounted to 60 million Soviet rubles, became the final argument in favor of the immediate construction of a large regulating reservoir.
19th century map. Dotted lines indicate lands subject to flooding.
The design process was not without losses and human tragedies. For the bowl of the future reservoir, the following areas were allocated: the territory of the previously existing Tshchik reservoir, but for the most part the land of Adygea with twenty auls and hamlets. 
Tshchika Reservoir on an old foreign map
Their residents were forced to leave their homes. In total, more than 11 thousand people were resettled to the newly built city of Teuchezhsk (now Adygeisk) and the village of Tlyustenkhabl. 28 cemeteries, 5 mass graves were moved, and more than 16 thousand hectares of forest were cut down.
In addition, the extensive burial mounds of the Scythian and Maikop cultures located in the flooded area have not been fully explored.
Filling the surrounding rivers with water began in 1973.
Today it successfully fulfills its main functions, cutting off the peaks of spring floods on a territory with a total area of 600 thousand hectares, including certain areas of the regional center. According to the latest data, thanks to him, the threat of major floods in the lower reaches of the Kuban River was averted 15 times.
In addition, the reservoir, with its mass, swallowed up the swamps that had flourished here in abundance since ancient times, provided irrigation to rice fields, and also made it possible to engage in farming. valuable species fish.
The reservoir area is 420 km², volume - from 2.0 km³ to 3.1 km³. Length - 40 km, width - up to 15 km. The depth of the “sea” is on average 5 meters, in the deepest place, near the dam - 18 meters (which is almost comparable to the depth of the Sea of Azov).
The Krasnodar reservoir is the pride of Krasnodar residents and is popularly called the “Kuban Sea”.
In some parts of the city, for example, in the suburban microdistrict Khutor Lenina, the “sea” can be seen from the windows of multi-storey buildings (which serves as a marketing trump card when selling housing).
On the banks of the reservoir there are recreation centers and even a real yacht club!
In addition to its main purpose, the Krasnodar Reservoir will perhaps be of most interest to fishing enthusiasts. There are so many fish here, all types and sizes! In the upper reaches of the reservoir you can catch carp, ram, tench, roach, and catfish. In its southern part there is a lot of bleak, pike perch, sabrefish, silver carp, perch, bream are found, and along the shore you can catch crucian carp and carp. True, it is not possible to go fishing in all places; the object is still restricted, but luck smiles on inquisitive fishermen!
Along the southern shore of the reservoir, at times the water exposes archaeological and anthropological artifacts: ancient settlements, burial grounds, burial mounds, settlements, and numerous objects of the cultural layer.
And in 1997, in the area of the village of Necherziy, fishermen accidentally discovered the remains of a mammoth, washed out by a landslide, called “Necherezian”.
The found artifact is a new, previously unknown species of mammoth and the second almost completely preserved find in the Southern Federal District. According to experts, the preservation of the skeleton is about 70%. Today, the reconstruction of the skeleton is on display at the National Museum of Adygea.
But the water, seemingly tamed, continues to inspire awe.
Legends are made about the man-made sea. Many, as a rule, have mystical overtones.
They say that in the fog that sometimes descends on the pond and surrounding area, you can see silhouettes and hear unusual sounds. Some suggest that these are the spirits of people buried in mounds that were disturbed during the construction of the reservoir. Some claim that they saw Meotian warriors, others that they heard human voices. The sounds of speech, according to the stories of some fishermen, took them far into the fog, tens of kilometers away.
During the construction of the reservoir, two dozen settlements went under water. People were forcibly moved to new places. They were expelled from the land on which many generations of their families lived and in which their ancestors found their last refuge. About fifty cemeteries were flooded, most of them were simply filled with concrete.
They even said that some of the residents did not want to leave their homes, preferring to die on their native land. Eyewitnesses of those events tell a strange story, almost a fable, about an old woman who did not want to leave her native home, and locked herself in her hut just before the flooding. The light in her window burned until the rising water extinguished it.
There are also more mundane ones, but no less creepy stories about giant catfish that wait at the bottom for fishermen and swimmers, and some were even caught in different years and pulled out into the light of day with the help of a metal cable and a tractor.
But the main story recent years ten, which has already become a kind of urban legend - these are rumors about the emergency condition of the reservoir dam, and what will happen if a breakthrough occurs.
And it seems there are even theoretical calculations by scientists that the sea, having broken free, will take part of Krasnodar with it and rush south to meet its Black brother, absorbing the lands of Seversky, Abinsky district, Gelendzhik and Novorossiysk on its rapid path.
The famous Krasnodar photoblogger Sergei Evsyukov once fantasized about this topic, embodying in his works the gradual flooding of Krasnodar districts with the superimposition of catastrophic frames on real city landscapes.
You can see the essay about this in detail on the author’s blog.
And although the Kuban Sea has recently been increasingly criticized for changing the region’s climate for the worse, for increasing the mosquito population, for shallowing due to silt deposits, and generally for being useless, it remains an integral part of our history and the Kuban flavor.
View of the reservoir from an airplane
Kuban Reservoir on the Great Stavropol Canal, in the Russian Federation, Stavropol region. Created in 1968. Area 50 km2, volume 0.62 km3. Used for irrigation and hydropower purposes.
Construction of the facility began on December 5, 1975. Five reinforced concrete plants were built exclusively for the “Krasnodar Sea”. The reservoir was supposed to solve four problems: flood control, field irrigation, city water supply and navigation. However, the result of its construction was the rise of groundwater, floods in villages located close to the reservoir (almost every spring), and the destruction of archaeological monuments. In the 90s, experts doubted the validity of the construction of this facility. But, according to the director of the federal state institution "Krasnodar Reservoir" Anatoly Chibisov, over these 25 years it was possible to prevent 12 floods and only thanks to the reservoir the flooding of thousands of hectares of land was avoided. Nevertheless, in 1999, the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations recognized the Kuban reservoir as a dangerous object, and now it is under constant control. There is so little water that the shallows are visible. In 1980, the volume of water reached 3 billion m3. Now it is almost 10 times less. Nobody knows what to do with the reservoir now. One of the sad facts is that the Kuban Sea dam can only withstand an earthquake with a magnitude of 4-5. In the event of stronger tremors, most of Krasnodar will be under water.
The Kuban reservoir needs major cleaning
The Kuban reservoir needs major cleaning: it silts up, its capacity is reduced, and as a result, water has to be discharged much more often than required by the interests of the economic complex. But there is no one to clean the bottom: some enterprises do not have enough equipment and working capital, while others have been unable to obtain permission to carry out this work for years.
For the second year in a row, Kuban River Shipping Company has been recognized as the winner of the competition among Krasnodar enterprises in the transport industry. Difficult navigation conditions faced by river boaters, the rise in price of petroleum products (and the price for the shipping company rose by 50%) did not prevent us from finishing last year with a 20 million profit, transferring 32 million rubles in taxes to all budgetary and extra-budgetary funds, and increasing taxes by more than a quarter of employees' salaries.
The profit, unfortunately, was obtained mainly through the operation of four motor ships traveling abroad, ship repair and other paid services, and not thanks to the labor- and material-intensive process - extraction and delivery of sand to construction sites. In general, there are still problems, and they are not being resolved as quickly as we would like. But the river workers do not intend to give up: a powerful dredger, a floating crane, three tugboats with barges of 1.5 thousand tons each and a hydraulic loader have been deployed to the reservoir, which extract sand, transport and unload it at coastal warehouses.
Every year, up to eight million tons of sand and gravel-sand mixture must be extracted from the reservoir bowl - this is exactly what the Kuban River brings. To achieve this, in the 1980s the state supplied the shipping company with powerful equipment. However, now this seemingly necessary and important matter has turned into a real problem. A typical example. Since 1993, the shipping company has been operating at the Dranaya Khmerech field, which is located in a reservoir on the territory of two subjects of the Federation - the Krasnodar Territory and the Republic of Adygea. The production license expired in February 2004, and in accordance with the subsoil law, until the development of the mining allotment was completed, the company had the right to re-issue the license. But two and a half years of suffering ended in vain. Even despite the decision of the Arbitration Court of the Republic of Adygea, which was made back in August last year, the matter has not moved forward. Perhaps the issue would have been resolved long ago if the shipping company had re-registered in Adygea or, at least, leased out its equipment to local entrepreneurs. But the management of the enterprise does not agree to this, realizing that problems will arise in the region.
With great difficulty and only thanks to the intervention of the first vice-governor, only in the middle of last year, after six months of inactivity, a “compromise” license for sand extraction was obtained at the deposit, which is located in the upper reaches of the reservoir, near the village of Starokorsunskaya. It is possible to work there only on "high water". After the water level drops, all ships are laid up and production stops. There are other deposits in the Krasnodar Reservoir, but their development requires new licenses, which, judging by bitter experience, will take more than one year to obtain, despite the fact that they were explored at one time by the shipping company at its own expense.
And according to the law on subsoil, an enterprise that has carried out exploration at its own expense has a priority right to receive a development license. In addition, the shipping company is the only enterprise in the south of Russia that owns such a powerful complex of watercraft - 107 units of equipment, its material base has largely been preserved, and its technical potential is being increased. This is where real professionals work, with decades of work on the river behind them.
And they are ready to work, especially since there is no end to the matter. The Kuban reservoir, which has not been seriously addressed for the last 15 years, needs a major cleaning. It silts up, the capacity is reduced - instead of 3.4 billion cubic meters, the water bowl takes in less than 2 billion cubic meters.
The shipping company also offers its services to clean up the Kuban River in order to simultaneously solve the problems of navigation and flooding in the cheapest way - through dredging, expanding the shipping lane and eliminating restrictive riffles. But again there is an obstacle - there is no permission to work in line. State enterprises (GBUVPiS) of the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation and the Fedorovsky hydroelectric complex of the Ministry of Agriculture, which are obliged to maintain the navigation and river bed in order, have it. But they do not have enough of the necessary equipment, and the budget does not allocate funds. But the restoration of shipping in the Kuban is very important for the economy of both the region and Russia. This is an alternative railway to the ports of Temryuk and Kavkaz, and the option is faster and cheaper, but this is a topic for another conversation.
It seems that it was precisely such bureaucratic intricacies that interfere with the normal activities of the Kuban Shipping Company that the governor of the region, Alexander Tkachev, recently spoke at a well-known meeting and with bitterness and justified anger demanded improvement in the work of the state apparatus.
SUCH A DISTURBANCE COULD NOT HAVE HAPPENED
RESIDENTS OF BARSUKOVSKAYA STILL BELIEVE THAT THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT SUBMITTED THEM TO THE IMPACT OF THE WAVE
A special correspondent for Trud reports from the disaster zone: According to an unwritten law, the captain is the last to leave a sinking ship. In the village of Barsukovskaya, which suffered the most from the flood, this golden rule seems to have been crossed out.
Do you know when we learned that trouble was coming? - Galina Dmitrievna Samoilenko asks me. And she herself answers her own question: - When in those tall buildings where our village authorities live, they began to save things, drag them to the upper floors...
But they told me that two cars of your chieftain Ivan Bratkov were covered by water...
Cars are nonsense. “Wash off the dirt and go to your health,” the young guy Sasha enters into the conversation. - I am driving the director of the fish farm, Ivan Ivanovich Kotov. The state-owned Moskvich is standing there, it was also under water - and it’s okay, I’ll wash it and I’ll drive. The main thing is different. People learned that there was a lot of water coming from Nevinnomyssk too late, although our village authorities had information about this earlier...
It turns out that the flood can only be called a surprise from the elements with a big stretch. What really happened? Such heavy rains have happened here before. It happened that the Kuban overflowed its banks, but it did not happen so quickly. People saw the water coming and prepared to meet it in advance. Therefore, the elements did not bring devastating disasters.
So, at half past 12 on the night of June 20, the Kochubey district administration received information through the Ministry of Emergency Situations. It reported that workers at the Kuban reservoir were preparing to release water because it was overflowing due to heavy rains. The water might break the dam, and then...
This is where the most incomprehensible begins. The Kuban reservoir is located in Karachay-Cherkessia. It is more than 70 kilometers away from the border with the Stavropol Territory. Previously, planned water releases were made from the reservoir, but they did not cause any harm. Moreover, people even knew about these planned resets. This time the incredible happened. Some now claim that the emergency release of water was known in advance, while others deny this. Apparently, a special commission, which was created to investigate the case, will look into the matter and identify the culprits, because of which the information did not reach every house in the risk zone on time. But this doesn’t make it any easier for anyone.
I was in a car at the edge of the village, just on the side where the water came from. It was hot. Somewhere around two o'clock in the afternoon I suddenly heard people screaming. And you can see from afar that the water is flowing in a solid line. I rushed home - it’s about two kilometers. He jumped out of the car, rushed to the neighboring house to his mother, and dragged her into the attic. During this time, my wife collected the children and some things. 20 minutes passed, but we were already in waist-deep water. Two calves, chickens - everything, of course, remained here and died. The cow, however, was on a pasture outside the village, so we were lucky.
I see you have a cell phone. Didn’t your director Kotov call you and warn you about the trouble? After all, he himself, as I found out, managed to save his beloved BMW-25.
No, came the short answer.
It’s hard to listen to the stories of village residents from Barsukovskaya. They will remember the first minutes of the disaster all their lives. Galina Dmitrievna Samoilenko sighs:
I stayed in the house with five children. And suddenly - a huge wave. We quickly go to the attic. We waited and hoped for my son Victor to arrive on a tractor. But they didn't wait...
Victor was actually breaking through home at that time to save his relatives. His tractor and cart raced along the already flooded street. There was very little left to the house when Victor saw drowning people. Without hesitation, the guy rushed to save them. He put more than 20 children in a tractor cart, but then such a wave surged that the tractor and cart almost disappeared under the water. Victor’s decision turned out to be the right one: in a matter of minutes he managed to get the kids onto the roof of a house. As soon as Victor climbed there himself, a second wave began, which turned out to be stronger than the first. The tractor and cart disappeared under water...
There are dozens of woeful stories. Everyone has their own story, and everyone finds it the most dramatic. However, all the village residents I spoke with ended their stories with a question: why didn’t local leaders notify people in time?
Let's hope that the reason for the bosses' silence will become clear later. But it is already clear that by their actions, or rather, inaction, they exposed their fellow villagers to a mortal blow.
It has not yet been established how many people died in the village. They told me different numbers, but so far it is believed that 20 people drowned and 15 were missing.
The bodies of people were collected earlier, and now the Emergencies Ministry and the military have also collected the corpses of animals. It seems that the danger of an epidemic has been eliminated. During this sad work, terrible pictures were revealed. In one place, the soldiers began to remove the corpse of a cow from the mud, and after it they dug up the owner. The old woman probably led her cow on a rope, and died just like that, holding on to the reins...
All residents of the village of Barsukovskaya talk with envy about the neighboring village of Nadzornoye. There, they say, people learned about the trouble in about two hours. And no one died, can you imagine? I checked with the authorities to see if this was true. In the village of Nadzornoye, one man died, and that was because he was drunk.
When I left the village of Barsukovskaya, a fine, nasty rain began to fall. People became worried: what if big water started gushing again. But in the temporary camp they were already being reassured through loudspeakers. They said that the terrible thing would not happen again.