Baikal water is very clean and transparent.
It can be used for drinking with little or no cleaning or processing. This water is soft, chemically pure and homogeneous; it is saturated with oxygen throughout its entire thickness. Even the Alpine lakes, famous for the transparency of their water, are inferior to Baikal.
One of the ancient legends says that in very ancient times a stern hero named Baikal lived in these places. And he had several hundred sons and only one daughter - Angara, the most beautiful girl in the world. The sons worked day and night tirelessly. Snow and glaciers were drowned in the mountains, crystal water was collected from all around and driven into a huge basin. And then one day Angara heard from wandering singers that a young hero, handsome Yenisei, lived behind the neighboring mountains. She fell in love with Angara Yenisei and fled from the crystal palace from the bottom of the underwater kingdom, where her strict father imprisoned her. Upon learning of the escape, the enraged Baikal rushed in pursuit, grabbed a huge stone block and threw it at the recalcitrant daughter, but missed. Since then, this block has been lying at the exit of the river from the lake, it is now called the Shaman stone. In the end, Ani ara ran to the Yenisei and hugged him, and they flowed together to the cold northern sea.
Scientists have calculated that 554 rivers flow into Baikal (“sons of Baikal”). Most of them start on the mountain slopes in short, turbulent streams. Only 123 rivers are over 10 km long, the largest of which is the Selenga River. However, the area of the lake's drainage basin (more than 550 thousand km) is huge and commensurate with the area of France. The mighty, full-flowing Angara River flows out of the lake, which takes up to 85% of all the water supplied per year] The Buryats say about it: "The daughter of the old man is ruining Baikal!" Baikal has a great influence on the Angara regime, regulating its flow; it is, as it were, a natural reservoir. Thanks to the Angara, water exchange takes place in the lake. However, its speed is very low - for a complete change water mass it takes over 380 years in the lake. That is why many properties of Baikal water are very stable and constant.
So why is the water in the lake so clear and so soft? Primarily because Baikal collects its waters from a large, almost unpolluted area covered with dense forests. Also, here enough precipitation, moderate evaporation and a large supply of well-filtered groundwater... The lake shores are composed of hard crystalline rocks, which, when weathered, form sand and almost do not add impurities to the water.
In addition, Baikal has its own "orderlies" - Epishura crustaceans, which are not found anywhere else in the world. It is these creatures (a thousand of these babies weigh only one milligram) that biologically purify the Baikal waters. They feed on microorganisms that cause water bloom. The exceptional softness of Baikal water is due to its very low mineralization. So, for example, in lake water silicon is three times less than in the water of tributaries. It turns out that it is extracted from the water by diatoms, which build their shells from silicon.
It is impossible to say that Baikal has been fully explored today. Even simple things are often confusing. For example, such a seemingly elementary question as the number of sources flowing into the lake can be considered open. After all, it is not so easy to rewrite all the streams that carry the purest mountain water to Baikal. It's almost like taking a census. Even the number of rivers varies from source to source! It is difficult to count all these flows, because some of the shores of the lake are simply impassable. Sheer cliffs or, conversely, swampy places interfere, and it is not always possible to see a stream winding in the grass from a helicopter. The situation is complicated by the seasonal difference in these tributaries, because some of them appear during the snow melting period, safely disappearing in the summer.
But it is precisely established that the Angara water carries away from Lake Baikal. But whether there are small, insignificant drains near the lake, it is also difficult to say. Regarding the number of islands - the same confusion - for some reason it is impossible to count them exactly. Or washes them running water lakes? By the way, information about water exchange also varies. Some scientists argue that the water in the bottom layers of Lake Baikal has been settled for almost centuries, and therefore acquires unique properties... Others emphasize that the water of the lake is still in motion, and this does not allow it to accumulate a large amount of silt - and with it acquire turbidity, and therefore the transparency of the Baikal water is so high.
The "culprit" of purity
But what else has been established for sure is one of the "culprits" of the unsurpassed purity of this greatest water reserve on the planet. This is a microscopic crustacean that recycles everything that could form silt. They call it the Baikal Epishura. And this endemic plankton crustacean processes all substances down to the simplest inorganic compounds. The local plankton produces oxygen in huge quantities! Sponges are another filter of Baikal water. This is where the amazing saturation of water with this life-giving element comes from. So the sludge of water, especially the age-old, here, apparently, has nothing to do with it.
It's just that Baikal heals itself with the help of microorganisms, which are almost nowhere else. Why almost? Because the Baikal water nevertheless penetrates into other lakes of its basin, moreover, together with this plankton. But here's a mystery: the warm and shallow lake Kotokel, where it is reliably known that the same plankton epishura is present, almost died from an ecological catastrophe. Of course, the percentage of pollution in a small lake could exceed all conceivable limits, but the water temperature in which pathogenic organisms could multiply more actively than in the cold deep Baikal could play a role, therefore the bottom plankton was not able to cope with such an attack.
But what is surprising: Kotokel is gradually recovering! It has already become to fish . After all, only a few years have passed since the disaster, and already such an amazing result. Of course, Kotokel is flowing, but water from it flows through the river system to Baikal. Why didn't the water of the "Glorious Sea" suffer? Because it is not "defended" for centuries, but is processed, moreover, with a large amount of plankton. In addition, both lakes receive replenishment from the purest glacial water. Modern scientists believe that it is melt water that has the most favorable structure. It seems that the second "culprit" of Baikal's purity has been found.
Melt and bottom water
Can the sun warm up the entire water column of Lake Baikal? Of course, such a moment comes, otherwise there would always be ice at the bottom of the lake. But the temperature bottom water still remains very low. As a result, in its structure, it turns out to be close to melt water. Pathogenic organisms do not multiply at this temperature, and if you organize a fence drinking water precisely from the depths, then it does not have to be chlorinated to drink. Just like we drink cold water from the springs that rises from the depths of the earth. Since there is no in the world more lake with such a depth, there is no more water with such remarkable properties. If we take the largest lake - the Caspian Sea, then the water in it is salty, unsuitable for drinking.
Melt water is considered useful not only because of its structure, but also because of the small amount of salts. When it flows down from the mountains during the melting of glaciers, it is practically not saturated with minerals, because in the vicinity of Lake Baikal, the river banks consist of crystalline rocks that are poorly soluble in water. As a result, the water remains soft, therefore it is favorable for drinking and bathing in it. Doctors believe that hard water can clog the joints and contribute to the deposition of salts in them. Blood flow also suffers from it, not to mention the digestive system and kidneys. But soft water can work wonders, and in spring the waters of Lake Baikal are close to distilled ones, but these are natural waters, and not artificially obtained.
Examples for contrast
A modern car enthusiast is unlikely to pour low-quality fuel into the gas tank, realizing that the car can deteriorate. At the same time, for example, in the water supply system of the city of Taganrog, far from Lake Baikal, water flowed with such a salt content that it tasted bitter-salty. And people drank it! Tourists who came to this "resort-industrial" center, jokingly called tap water, coming from the Mius River, "crane borjomi". Or even it was believed that water was brought there not even from slightly salted Sea of Azov, and immediately from Black! Even six tablespoons of sugar could not "correct" the taste of tea with such water.
Against this background, you begin to appreciate the unique water of Lake Baikal even more. After all, the body of each person is unique, and he needs clean "fuel" no less than a car. Since the body is 80% water, our health depends on the purity of what we are forced to drink. And how useful soft bathing water is! She not only seems affectionate when you touch her, but also has a beneficial effect on the health of the skin and hair, as well as their appearance... That is why the unique water of the lake must be treated with the utmost care.
When you begin to understand the value of a unique lake
Conversations about the fact that all living things came out of the water are already categorically boring. Anyone will ignore this phrase now. If you tell a person that Baikal is one-fifth of all reserves fresh water on Earth, it will only be perceived as statistics. But one has only to plunge into this wonderful world relict lake, imbued with its greatness, as you begin to feel almost with your skin that this fragile balance can be destroyed. And even though now the Baikal water is able to heal itself, experiment with it or wave your hand, throwing garbage on the shore or into the oncoming wave, they say, and it will be processed, it is not worth it.
But each of us can contribute to the safety unique water... If you are accustomed not to load nature with the "husk of civilization", but to contemplate it peacefully, if it is in your habits to collect garbage in a bag and carry it to the first waste container you come across, if you do not break branches unnecessarily, and make fires in old fireplaces and always have them extinguish after yourself, or even better - use other means of cooking, then come to Baikal and take a place there, not allowing those who live only one day to settle.
In order to get imbued with the idea, you can visit special ecological tours that are organized here on Lake Baikal. Around the lake there are nature reserves and sanctuaries open to the public, which is limited by the number of people passing through the area in one day. These territories are protected by the state, and we are personally responsible for others, when we visit them, live there and leave again. How clean the water will remain in Lake Baikal also depends on how attentive we are to nature.
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Baikal amazes not only with its impressive size, water reserves, but also with the number of myths about the water of this amazing lake. Here are 5 things you need to know:
1. Unique composition of water
Delving deeper into the study of the composition of the lake's water, scientists note that it is similar to distilled water. There are practically no mechanical impurities in Lake Baikal, the content of dissolved salts is low. But if we turn to a more detailed analysis of water, then we can note one important fact: water is enriched with free oxygen and, important for human body, microelements. This is due to the fact that water enters the lake through a multi-stage and complex path, overcoming tributaries, cascades of natural filters. Enriched with life-giving power, it turns into a health-improving cocktail: improving brain and physical activity, rejuvenating the human body, accelerating tissue regeneration, water becomes an important component of maintaining health.
2. Acidity of water
The acidity of water extracted from the lake Ph = 7.5, this figure is as close as possible to the acidity internal environment the human body. Due to this level of acidity, the water is perfectly absorbed, ideal for preparing baby and diet food.
3. Environmental formula
Lake Baikal is an incredible factory for the production of quality drinking water. Healing properties waters are associated with the passage of complex natural filtration and a unique biosphere. The study of water quality by the Irkutsk Limnological Institute showed that the lake is inhabited not only by living organisms, but also by ten types of bacteriophages participating in the destruction of dangerous bacteria for the human body.
An amazing fact about the water of Lake Baikal: water has the properties of a natural antiseptic and is effective for hypertension, bronchial asthma and urolithiasis.
4. Energy of melt water
As a result geographic location and the peculiarities of climatic conditions, the water of the lake goes through repeated cycles of freezing and thawing. Melt water is biologically active and has a beneficial effect on the human body. Studies have shown that it stimulates life processes, affects longevity and health. Most centenarians live in regions where melt water is used predominantly in the diet.
5. Unusual taste of pure water
After considering all four facts about water, it's no surprise that it tastes unique, delicious. The clean drinking water of Lake Baikal can rightfully be called life-giving. Thanks to chemical properties water, composition, natural and mechanical filtration - you want to drink water and enjoy the taste.
The lake water is used in Food Industry to create carbonated drinks, fruit drinks and alcoholic beverages, but the taste and benefits of clean drinking water is undeniable.
Baikal water is natural " living water". Artificially, with the help modern technologies It is impossible to create such water, therefore, the conservation of the lake is a priority not only for the ecology of Russia, but also for the world.
ArticlesV. Zhestkov
Why is the water in Baikal so clean?
Baikal is famous for its water, one of the cleanest in the world. I wonder why it is so different from the water of other bodies of water? It turns out that this is due to a number of factors. Let's try to figure it out. ...
Our boat sailed along Lake Baikal along Olkhon Island, when the guide invited us to try the Baikal water. Leaning over the side, she scooped up water with a mug and with a smile handed it to us. - And what, you can drink it like that? we asked almost in unison.
Well, near the coast, I would not dare to try it myself, and when we are almost in the middle of the Small Sea, you can drink water without any restrictions.
Here we learned about the main Baikal cleaner - the Baikal Epishura. Well, why the Baikal lake is clear, another endemic, but what the epischura is is a big question, with the answer to which we will begin to reveal the secrets of the water of the deepest lake in the world.
Epishura is a kind of small crustaceans that eat everything that gets into the Baikal water. True, one cannot literally think so, but they do an excellent job with all the organic matter. There is even an opinion that if the drowned person cannot be found on the first day, the search can be stopped, the epischura will eat the body completely and without a trace. It was even called by the people "Baikal ants".
Epishura crustaceans are small, their size does not exceed 1.5 mm, but their number is so large that it makes up to 90% of the entire Baikal biomass; this is the main food of omul and other fish inhabiting the lake. In turn, Epishura eats up almost all Baikal algae.
Epishura reproduces as follows: every 10-20 days the female lays eggs in a bag in which she bears them, while up to 60 eggs of varying degrees of maturity are collected in the bag, and in total the female lays up to 200 eggs per year. At any danger, the female breaks the bag, and the eggs fall out into the water. Surprisingly, they do not die at the same time, but continue to develop.
The larvae go through 12 stages in their development, each time molting during the transition from stage to stage.
As adults, crustaceans no longer grow.
During the year, the epischura manages to develop and grow by two generations, so it may seem that it develops continuously.
Epishura lives at different depths, absolutely not reacting to pressure changes, but more often it can be found in the open part of Lake Baikal in the upper 250-meter layer, where it lives all year round... In shallow water, it appears only in the ice period and in early spring, at the moment of ice melting. The only limitation for her is the water temperature, which should not exceed 12 degrees; at a higher temperature, the crustaceans die.
The life of the epischura is generally short - an average of 360 days.
The crustacean is also found in the Angara, as well as in the Irkutsk and Bratsk reservoirs; in the latter, the epischura develops and turns into a self-reproducing population.
So what does this almost microscopic crustacean mean for Lake Baikal? Most importantly, he manages to pass all the Baikal water through himself at least ten times during the year, filtering it and purifying it from all organic impurities, and it does not matter to him the nature of pollution, so long as it does not turn out to be destructive for himself, as, for example, pulp and paper mill emissions. They turned out to be too tough for the episode, and crustaceans in that area began to die en masse. Now, with the suspension of the plant's work, they are slowly starting to return.
The role of the epischura does not end there, it is the most important link in the food chain. It was found that to grow 1 kg of omul fry, 10 kg of epishura are needed. The grown omul changes its food base, switching to another, already predatory crustacean, called the macroheptopus. But here, too, one cannot do without an epishura. The fact is that to grow 1 kg of this crustacean, at least 10 kg of epishura is also required, which it feeds on.
But here another question arises: if there are so many episodes, and it completely eats up all the algae, where does the oxygen come from in the Baikal water, because in its absence there will be no life, everything will die - both fish and crustaceans? And this is the second riddle, the answer to which explains the reason for the unique transparency of Baikal water.
There is such a device - a white Secchi disk, it is with its help that scientists determine the transparency of reservoirs. So, it is visible in Baikal to a depth of 40 meters, in the Caspian - 25 meters, in Sevan - 20 meters. Even the vaunted Alpine lakes are inferior to Baikal.
Officially, the water of the Sargasso Sea is considered the standard of transparency, but in Lake Baikal at a depth of 250-1200 meters it is no less. Of course, in shallow waters and at river mouths, the transparency is much lower, and in spring, when algae begin to develop rapidly, the white disk is invisible already at a depth of 8-10 meters, but here the episodes get down to business, and everything falls into place.
The fact is that in Baikal water there are extremely few dissolved mineral salts, no more than 100 mg per liter, while in other lakes - up to 400 and more, in addition, there is no hydrogen sulfide, and there is an unusually large amount of oxygen.
So, at great depths, its content is 70-80% of water saturation, and in the surface layer it reaches 11-14 mg per liter. Such an excess of oxygen arises due to active vertical water exchange during the periods of freezing of the lake and its release from the ice shackles.
All this is caused by several reasons that do not happen in other bodies of water. First of all, the lake is fed mainly by glaciers, that is, the purest almost distilled water initially gets into it. In addition, the water that gets into the lake settles in it for years, the replacement of deep waters with surface waters takes place there in more than a hundred years.
It is assumed that during the entire existence of the lake, the water in it has changed 50,000 times.
It is known that even in hot summers the water in the surface layers of Lake Baikal does not warm up above 10-16 degrees, at a depth of 20 m it never exceeds 10 degrees, and deeper than 250 m it always has the same temperature - 3-4 degrees. This is where the scope for epischura is.
Scientists all over the world have recognized that Baikal water, by its own taste ideal for humans and has no analogues in the world, and its purity is not inferior to the water of Craternoye Lake in the USA, which is recognized as the world standard of water purity. Since 1992, industrial bottling of Baikal water has been carried out, which is taken from a depth of 400 meters.
In conclusion, a few figures. Baikal contains 80% of Russia's fresh water - 23.6 thousand cubic meters. km, this is a fifth of all fresh water on the planet, and all this water is drinking. And to a large extent, a tiny crustacean, the Baikal Epishura, is "to blame" for this: each liter of lake water contains from 30 to 50 thousand individuals, and the total weight is more than 4 million tons.
Academician Grachev, who served Baikal for more than thirty years as the director of the Limnological Institute of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, knows about Baikal more than anyone, one might say everything.
No, - objected Mikhail Alexandrovich. - Nobody knows everything about Baikal.
And half?
And what is "half of knowledge"?
I am embarrassed to keep quiet: it seemed to me that Grachev was already ... a full member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, who earned this title in the field of studying Baikal, who enriched us and all of science with this knowledge ...
Meanwhile, he tells how, at the very beginning of his work on Lake Baikal, his ship of science hit the shore: in 1987-1988, some unknown evil spirits pounced on a seal on the lake and killed about 6 thousand animals out of 100 thousand living in the lake.
Immune layer
According to the media, a ringing went off: aha, they waited with their pulp mill, they poisoned the holy water, now they are trying to hide the ends in the water. It took six months of work "from dawn to dawn" for the method of molecular biology, applied by the scientists of the institute, to give an exact answer:
The seal was mowed down by the dog plague. The epidemic stopped spontaneously.
No one in the world has ever registered the phenomenon that pinnipeds in general, and in particular freshwater endemic seals, suffer from canine distemper. Morbillivirus in a scientific way.
Now all learned world knows. But for the staff of the Limnological Institute, other knowledge is more valuable: until now this story with the death of the seal has not been repeated, an immune layer has appeared in it, God has mercy, therefore.
In the history of Lake Baikal, environmental accidents happened for various reasons, but they all lasted one or two years. And then they "dissolve", stopped. But the catastrophe with the rapid reproduction of Spirogyra, recorded in 2011, continues to this day. Following the scientists recorded mass death sponges, the cause of which has not yet been found. It was only discovered that the sponge was attacked by specialized cyanobacteria that produce a poisonous substance.
Baikal is offered a complex project: selection, transportation and bottling of water on site
Scientists suspected that the "hellish mixture" was hidden in the treatment facilities: the abuse of cleaning powders produced by Western firms increased the amount of phosphorus in the effluent, and, interspersed with feces, it turned out to be a catalyst for spirogyra. However, Academician Grachev spoke about this in detail on the pages of Rossiyskaya Gazeta.
Surprisingly, this problem with spirogyra and the death of sponges Institute scientists had to be resolved with the help of ... prosecutors: private sewage treatment plant where it was supposed to go ecological catastrophy, they were not allowed ... Yes, and not all officials reached the demand of scientists: it is necessary to dump human waste into the sewer, and not into Baikal. Yes, to process them to a biologically pure level.
Staphylococcus thunderstorm
In the issue of the "State report on Baikal" for 2013, the section "Bottling of deep Baikal water" (p. 259) first appeared under issue 1.4.7. It especially emphasized that our Baikal acquired a new international "rank" and world sympathy mainly because it possesses "a colossal volume (23 thousand cubic kilometers) of the purest fresh water, unique in its kind. How is it manifested?
Baikal water has a negative oxidation-reduction potential (ORP) value and can be considered a rather powerful antioxidant. Such water:
Normalizes the microflora of the gastrointestinal tract and helps to suppress pathogenic and opportunistic microflora, including Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella, Nigella (dysentery), Pseudomonas aeruginosa and others;
Possesses antimutagenic (anticarcinogenic) properties;
Restores and activates immune system in people with weakened immunity, including after radiation and chemotherapy;
Suppresses viruses of hepatitis C, herpes and influenza;
Shows an antidiabetic effect.
The high content of dissolved oxygen in it at all depths - from 9.6 to 12.8 mg / l, or from 87% to 110% of saturating: this is 3-4 times more than in any ordinary water (12 mg / l - Baikal, 3-5 mg / l - common, 2 mg / l artesian). The consumption of oxygen-enriched water is accompanied by an increase in the oxygen content in the blood, a decrease in the pulse rate, and an improvement in digestion.
The acid-base balance of Baikal water (Ph = 7.5) and the human body (Ph = 7.35) practically coincide. This means that such water does not carry any irritating factors and is perfectly absorbed by the human body, including infants.
The low mineralization of Baikal water 120 mg / l allows it to be used as a therapeutic and prophylactic against kidney stones and other diseases caused by drinking water with a high potassium content.
We will ruin the budget if we transport Baikal water to the capital for cheap, and ruin our business at a high price.
"Given the fact that with drinking water only 15 percent of the daily requirement for minerals enters the human body, the rest is replenished with various food products, the deep Baikal water can be used for constant consumption both for drinking and for cooking different types food. According to the conclusion of the East Siberian scientific center The Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, Baikal water is recommended for the normalization of water-salt metabolism, it is especially useful in diseases of the musculoskeletal system, ischemic, hypertensive, urolithiasis, reduces the risk of arthritis, atherosclerosis, the state report informs us. - The unique drinking properties and quality of Baikal deep water are confirmed by certificates of compliance with the requirements of drinking water standards in Russia, Germany, Japan, South Korea and China. The German Fresenius Institute has confirmed the compliance of water from Lake Baikal with the WHO requirements and guidelines for drinking water from the European Community. "
Fence from the depth
Back in 1992, the director of the Limnological Institute, Mikhail Grachev, reported to the Russian government that a team of scientists had fulfilled the instruction to prepare a scientific program for the production of deep Baikal drinking water in the amount of 20 million bottles a year.
The institute has developed and patented the "Method of obtaining Baikal drinking water" (patent N 2045478 from 1992), including: water intake from the deep water layer of Lake Baikal, preprocessing water by coarse filtration; fine cleaning through a system of filters with successively decreasing pore diameters; subsequent sterilization of water with ozone, or ultraviolet radiation; filling into sterile containers, the free space of which is filled with an oxygen-ozone mixture; capping in a filtered atmosphere. Water is taken from a depth of 100-300 meters from the bottom (depth from the surface is not less than 400 meters) from the so-called core or lens of Lake Baikal, where it is protected by the water column from surface pollution and where a constant temperature of 4.2 C. improved at the level of the invention.
OJSC "Baikal Waters", LLC "Baikalika" and some private individuals have patents for their own inventions of methods for obtaining Baikal drinking water. In a word, everything is prepared for the start of large-tonnage trade in Baikal water, some calculations have already been announced.
Baikal is offered a project for 100 million tons per year. This is 0.14 percent of the expendable part of the lake's water balance. Why exactly 100 million? By European standards, production mineral water less than 100 million bottles a year is considered unprofitable.
The project is complex: selection, transportation and bottling of water on site. The parameters of the project are as follows: annual revenue - 1.4 trillion rubles, tax receipts to the budgets of all levels - 300 billion rubles a year, investments - 400 billion rubles.
This is the annual proceeds from the sale of fourteen hundredths of a percent of the expendable part of Baikal's water - a renewable resource. Scientists give a threshold point: without damage to the ecosystem of Lake Baikal, up to 400 million tons of water can be taken from it per year (0.5 percent of the expenditure part of the lake's water balance).
As can be seen from the table, the volume of trade in Baikal water is growing, but not as fast as we would like. Rather, by 38 percent per year - the pace is good. But no one is satisfied with the absolute volume of sales. So far, only Voda of Baikal LLC is operating at a conditionally break-even level. Thus, the current trade in Baikal water can be profitable only due to the overstatement of prices.
The aggravation of the problem of providing the population of Russia and the planet, especially the Asia-Pacific region with high-quality drinking water, requires the development of strategic documents for the development water resources Baikal. This is how the task is set in the latest issue of the State Report. True, who exactly should be doing this already yesterday is kept silent.
Price records
Under current realities, a liter of oil is sold for less than 20 rubles (1 barrel for 50 US dollars). For 1 liter of Baikal water in Moscow they pay 80 rubles. At gas stations they charge you up to 40 rubles per liter of gasoline. The question is: who is crazy - people or prices?
To get a liter of gasoline, you need to invest in exploration, in drilling wells, in the extraction and transportation of the extracted oil, in the processing of oil into gasoline. And this is all spending, spending, spending ... As a rule, billions of dollars.
For the extraction of Baikal water, such expenses are not needed: I bought a license, lowered the pipe into Baikal and pump it as much as you can. Pass it through the filters fine cleaning right there, on the shore - and ... grab a turnip: how to deliver Baikal water to Moscow, St. Petersburg, Ryazan, Kazan, Elista, Rostov, Voronezh, Brest, etc.? Finally, to China, which suffers greatly from a shortage of fresh water. And ready to pay.
So far, only on Russian railways. From Irkutsk to Moscow - 5042 kilometers plus 63 kilometers to Lake Baikal. The carrying capacity of one railway tank car is 60 tons, or 60 thousand liters. Freight tariffs on Russian Railways are inexorable: the former leaders of the monopoly drove them crazy: in order to get a positive balance, you have to sell water in millions of liters. The delivery of a million liters will require a train of 100 tanks (refrigerated cars) - these are five full-fledged trains.
Moscow is home to 12 million people. The medical norm for everyone's life is 2 liters of drinking water a day. This is at least 20 million liters of daily requirement. Well, half of that is 10 million liters. 50 cargo routes of 20 tanks will not be able to solve the problem - this is too heavy for the Transsib.
We will ruin the budget if we transport Baikal water to the capital for a low price, and for a high price, two or three times more expensive than gasoline, we will ruin businessmen. Few people will buy it - this price will not be affordable for working citizens.
But this, as they say, is not the limit.
Records are set by Thalaya water, half a liter of which costs 112 rubles in chain stores. 98 kopecks. The only price that can compete with her is the French one - 96 rubles. 98 kopecks, and from ours - "Holy Spring" from Kostroma - I pay 40 rubles at a vending machine at the Bakovka railway station (it's my fault, since yesterday there are already 45 scars for a half liter, followed by "Baikal" from Irkutsk for 36 rubles 78 kopecks for 450 g And at the end of this row "Shishkin Les" from the village of the same name near Moscow for 14 rubles for 400 grams.
Drink to your health
The speculative taste of prices like characteristic feature irrepressible Russian democracy, not only hits in the eyes, but also family budgets... The same "Talaya" has already surpassed the gasoline barrier more than five times.
If we switch to water for 113 rubles, then this is the arithmetic. It is known: for medical reasons, each of us should consume 2 liters of water per day, for example "Taloy" - for 452 rubles. We will pay 13,560 rubles a month - drink to your health! But not every pensioner will have enough of his entire penny monthly pension for such "healing" water: drink water, eat water - you will become a fish from a pond.
One can understand Irkutsk residents for the not weak price of Baikal water. From Baikal to Moscow - 5100 kilometers: Railway charges up to three quarters of the price of each bottle for transportation.
From Stavropol to Moscow - 1600 km, more than three times closer. I don't think that Stavropol water has any quality advantages over licensed Baikal water. Although, of course, the last word for the buyer. But still. It may be objected that "Melt" water is of a special kind - it is obtained from the mountain streams of the Caucasus during the melting of glaciers.
But, have mercy! All three hundred and three rivers and streams flowing into Lake Baikal flow from the mountain ranges. And the lake itself is located at an altitude of 400 s more than meters above sea level (in Pacific terms). The Baikal basin rests in a ring of mountain ranges: from the south - the Khamar-Daban ridge; from the southwest - Primorsky ridge; from the north - the Tynnyr and Verkhneangarsky ridges; from the north-east - Golodninsky ridge and others.
That is, by all indications, the price of Baikal water should be much more expensive than "Talaya" and any others. But Baikal has more than 90 percent of Russia's fresh water reserves; total annual flow our largest rivers - less than 10 percent of the water volume of Lake Baikal.
The more goods, the lower their price: it turns out that Baikal still adheres to the fundamental postulate of the market. And he loses: something is wrong here. Who will investigate?