🥐 🦋 👓 Human use of the Volga River: shipping, fishing and much more ⬛️ 🤜 🚅

Since ancient times, people have used waterways for their needs, for the implementation of certain goals. In ancient Egypt, such a river was the fertile and navigable Nile. Not an exception, but rather a striking example - a person uses the Volga River. Here, one might say, Russia was very lucky. It is not in vain that this river is called the Great. It is the largest and richest among all, not only on the Russian Plain, but also in Europe.

Mother Volga

So it was affectionately called the Slavs. Its length is, according to modern estimates, more than three and a half thousand kilometers. And the catchment area is more than a million square kilometers. From Valdai to the Urals, the Volga occupies vast areas. It is not surprising that human use of the Volga River began in time immemorial. And the cities built, such as Kazan, Volgograd, Nizhny Novgorod, Samara - reach a million by the number of inhabitants. Of course, the water channel has a huge impact on the culture, economy and social life of these cities.

Fisheries

Volga - the nurse. And it was such at all times of the existence of people. Probably, the initial human use of the Volga River began with the provision of food. Even now, in such a difficult environmental time, more than seventy species of fish live in the river, forty of which are or were in the recent past fishing. Among them: roach, pike perch, bream, pike, carp, catfish. Sturgeon and sterlet have practically disappeared in recent years. Since ancient times, man did not miss the slightest opportunity to stock up on such - practically free - resources. As a result of overly intensive use of these riches, water pollution and the extinction of certain fish species. The situation has practically become an environmental disaster, which leads to the depletion of fish stocks (according to experts, the river in this regard became almost ten times poorer).

Transport artery

The human use of the Volga River for transport purposes is also one of the oldest ways. The channel and tributaries have long been navigable. And the Volga trade route dates back to the 8th century! First, on fragile little boats, then on powerful steamboats and dry cargo ships - people have long been transporting raw materials intended for trade. There was also communication, including mail, between different regions. Forest, fish, coal, lumber, oil and oil products, and much more are transported by water from one point of the country to another, from one state to another. It is interesting that, according to economists, about half of all water cargo transportation falls on its basin. In this regard, human use of the Volga River is undeniable and not subject to revaluation. It is fundamental to the development of the entire country of Russia.

Big Volga

Shipping is carried out over almost the entire course of the river. The exception is the first two hundred kilometers. It became possible thanks to the project "Big Volga", which came to life in the 20th century. The most powerful hydraulic structures were built (from 1932 to 1982) . The channel was deepened. Reservoirs were built. Water open spaces were connected by canals, which gave access to the seas. As a result, a powerful, unparalleled in the world, water transport network arose, making human use of the Volga River the most convenient. Of course, this violated the natural ecology of vast land plots. Some territories were flooded, and people were evicted. Some environmental experts consider this project fatal for the Great River and its entire environment - flora and fauna dependent on the Volga. The implementation of such an enterprise was fatal for some species of plants and animals. Of course, this has a certain negative impact. But in general, for a person positioned as a "master of nature", for the development of mankind as a community, the significance of the "Big Volga" is difficult to overestimate.

Volga river in human economic activity

And also eleven power plants using water resources have been built on the river . This cascade was conceived back in the 30s and subsequently quite successfully implemented. Huge human and material resources were involved . Sometimes these projects also went against the preservation of the environment and the environment. Entire villages and cities were also flooded. But the result was achieved: now more than thirty billion kilowatts per hour are produced at the Volga hydroelectric power plants. Moreover, energy production using water is considered to be five times cheaper than at thermal power plants, for example. In addition, this saves huge amounts of coal and fuel and lubricants.

Having no analogues in the world, the constructed hydraulic system is effectively involved in the irrigation of arid, but fertile, Volga, middle and lower territories. Without an irrigation system, it would be impossible to harvest huge crops on these lands, and they would simply be empty. Irrigation of land additionally shows which river is the Volga. The use of these soils without it would be impossible.

The river resource is actively used by modern industrial facilities, built on the banks in abundance. A lot of chemical, engineering, mining enterprises. All of them could not fully and on such a scale produce products without Volga water.

Tourism

Recently, the Volga has been actively used as a tourist attraction. Currently, there are more than one hundred tourist lines along the river routes. As a rule, trips are carried out on modern liners or passenger ships, quite comfortable. And similar cruises down the Volga are becoming very popular with Russians and foreign visitors. And traveling slowly, you can see firsthand how large Mother Russia is and Mother Volga.