Water is disappearing: in Tatarstan, more than three thousand water bodies have vanished, and the authorities blamed local residents for it.

Only recently I published material about continental drying—the water horizons around the world are rapidly retreating, with 68% of the losses accounted for by groundwater. This means we do not see or realize the true scale of the problem! Because this problem lies beneath our feet. And when it reaches an extreme, there will be a sharp, uncontrollable collapse of all the world’s ecosystems.

Despite the available scientific assessments, governments are in no hurry to address problems “that are almost invisible anyway.”

Now I want to tell you what is happening in our country. In June 2025, experts in Tatarstan announced the disappearance of more than THREE THOUSAND WATER BODIES. That is, they were simply wiped off the face of the earth—the water is leaving.

In just a few decades, 3 134 water bodies have disappeared in one region. Truly catastrophic in scale! The list of objects includes lakes, ponds, and other sources of water.

But what surprised me most in this whole story was the reaction of regional officials. The Minister of Ecology of the Republic of Tatarstan, Alexander Shadrikov, at an off-site meeting of the State Council Committee on Ecology, stated that local residents are to blame for the disappearance of water bodies.

Here is the quote:

“The water coverage of Tatarstan’s territory is 6.4%, which is related to anthropogenic impact. This concerns both lakes and waterlogged areas. The residents of the republic have a negative impact.”

That is, the head of the regional department publicly shifted responsibility for the disappearance of lakes to “the residents of the republic have a negative impact.” He did not say it was due to people in general, nor did he emphasize anthropogenic impact as the key cause! A conscious statement was made: the local residents are to blame. Period.

And to be honest, that position irritates me.

Haven’t the officials, years earlier, handed over to big business the right to interfere with Tatarstan’s hydrology and water horizons? I am perfectly aware of the scale of such “discount sales” not only in the republic, but across the country.

But since the conversation turned to how it’s apparently the local residents who are to blame, let’s recall the following:

In 2011–2012, the authorities of Tatarstan initiated the complete cutting off of the “Krysinny Khvost” (Rat’s Tail) channel of the Volga (Kazan). There were works on infilling, backfilling, and constructing a new shoreline, which effectively severed the old Volga channel. The water exchange in the water area of the Admiralteyskaya Sloboda was changed.

Then, in 2012–2016, the authorities sanctioned the infilling and creation of artificial “islands” in the Volga’s water area. The works were truly large-scale, aimed at forming new land plots, including FOR FUTURE DEVELOPMENT.

By the way, I remembered that a bit earlier, in 2000–2010, the authorities essentially provoked the hydrological “dehydration” of aquifers due to large-scale construction and the deployment of transport arteries. I’m talking about the Lebyazhye Lakes in Kazan.

And Sviyazhsk, when in 2008 the island was connected to the mainland by a fill dam (for those who don’t know, this changes the local hydrodynamics of the Sviyaga and bays), after which in 2011 the dam was cut through with a canal and a bridge. All for “tourist and cultural purposes.”

Among recent actions—the reconstruction of the protective Krasnoklyuchinskaya dam on the Kama (if I’m not mistaken, implementation took place in 2020–2022). The project cost almost a billion rubles from the republic’s budget plus subsidies from federal programs! Officially, all this was needed for flood protection, but in reality such a massive facility directly affects levels, floods, and inundation in the floodplain. Artificial regulation!

In 2024–2025, the authorities of Kazan announced the construction of a large protective dam for the “low-lying” areas of the left bank. This is a capital hydraulic structure that lays a new watershed line.

And there are many other projects that directly affect the aquifers of the entire region! For example, Kazan residents will surely remember how in 2022 officials issued decisions on infilling and backfilling in the area of the Chasha (the Wedding Palace) to create a park territory, and they specifically discussed the impact on the water exchange of the Kazanka. Earlier, in 2021, the authorities tried to push through a project to “straighten the riverbed” for an additional 3 hectares of land—at that time all ecologists demanded that this madness be stopped. The officials wanted more land for development, and so they proposed changing the hydrological regime! Bravo… what else can one say.

Both years ago and right now, the authorities are sanctioning continuous interventions in the region’s hydrology. And when problems begin, the minister comes out and says: “the residents of the republic have a negative impact.”

Here, I probably need to clarify for those unfamiliar with the terms that infilling, backfilling, and dams change the filtration flows between the water area and adjacent terraces (groundwater and subsurface water), cut off the recharge of oxbow lakes and karst lakes, and, naturally, rigidly fix the shoreline instead of allowing natural formation.

When officials talk about “eco-rehabilitation” projects—you should immediately understand that these are works involving the removal of bottom sediments, channel clearing, bank reinforcement, and drainage. As a rule, they simply “wash the budget”; I rarely encounter honestly executed works! In general, based on the experience of implementing such programs in the country, I can say that almost always this means interference with the recharge regime of floodplain meadows and coastal bogs. And then—naturally—there are many problems that no one ever thought about.

Now let us return again to the problem of more than 3 thousand water bodies disappearing in Kazan. Yes, the scale is colossal! And yes, it is truly a huge problem. Moreover, not only for people, but for all regional ecosystems. First of all, it means forests drying out, a shrinking forage base, and increasing forest fires. Quite simply, animals have nowhere to drink!

And yes, I agree that ordinary citizens bear some blame! Indeed, people have a negative impact when they wash cars in rivers, discharge wastewater from garden cooperatives, and create wells and boreholes incorrectly. But these are all LOCAL INTERVENTIONS.

And the real picture of the problems is created by GLOBAL INTERVENTION IN THE REGION’S HYDROLOGY for the sake of the continuous development of huge sums from the regional budget, selling off to businessmen, and additional money from the federal government under “state programs.”

The carrier of risk has been and remains urban planning and water management policy. Minister Shadrikov should have said:

“It seems our policy of intervening in aquifers over recent decades has been destructive. We did not think about the consequences and are now reaping the fruits of our defective work: more than three thousand water bodies have already been lost forever. We will hold an emergency meeting, invite the public and the best specialists and scientists! It’s time to admit mistakes, understand what we did wrong, carry out systemic changes, and urgently begin to correct the situation. We acknowledge the problems! I acknowledge the problems.”

And instead we hear: “the residents of the republic have a negative impact.”

To conclude this material, I remind all allies that I recently spoke about continental drying and the real scale of the ongoing “dehydration.” Be sure to review the data!

And using Tatarstan as an example, we now see how serious this problem is—more than three thousand water bodies have been completely erased from the maps. The situation will continue to worsen in the coming years.

Spread the word!

We speak the truth and fight for Life.

© PAVEL PASHKOV