Results of the comprehensive water/resources and ecological researchers of the OB-Irtysh basin current state are given. Assessment of the many-year dynamics of the main indicators characterizing the Ob River ecological status has been made. The data are quoted on the basis of the analysis of materials of many-year hydrological, hydro/chemical, ecological and water/economic researchers of Russian Academy of Sciences Siberian Branch Institute of Water and Ecological Problems. The main problems of water supply and water use special for this basin have been revealed: non-uniformity of water resources distribution, hazardous hydrological phenomena (inundation, flooding, and channel processes), as well as water pollution (of human and natural origin). The situation is aggravated by the Ob-Irtysh basin transboundary status. The anthropogenic transformation of the region has been estimated: its index is the highest in the steppe and Southern forest/steppe areas of the Ob-Urtysh basin, while it is much lower in the Northern part of the basin; in mountain areas of Altay, Salair and Kuznetsk Alatau anthropogenic transformation is not high, and in the regions of Transuralia and Kuznetsk depression the territories of environmental problems have been identified. Non-synchronism of water content changes many-year trends for different parts of the basin has been revealed. Over the past decades volumes of water use and water disposal somewhat decreased in respect of the whole basin. Bearing in mind the level of groundwater and surface water resources availability, 15% of the total population of the Ob-Irtysh basin live in the conditions of extremely low and very low potential water supply. New data obtained as a result of comprehensive expedition water/ecological researches in 2016 with the use of research fleet are quoted.
Current State and Ecological Problems of the Ob-Irtysh Basin
