ИСТИНА

The water resources (groundwater and surface water) are determined based on the available information about the modern conditions of water formation, their spatial distribution, transformation over time, rational use, and protection. The new situation requires a revaluation of the renewable water resources because of changes in climate characteristics. Regional estimates along with the analysis of water resources distribution in European Russia, obtained by the authors, show the space and time dynamics of the surface and subsurface components of river runoff. The work was based on up-to-date scientific and methodological principles of statistical processing and examining the time distribution of the mean annual, dry-season, and minimal water resources and their space distribution over some regions, river basins, and the constituent entities of the Russian Federation. The solution of those problems was largely facilitated by the authors’ studies, which have been carried out since 2007. Those studies have provided a theoretical and methodological basis for establishing modern formation conditions of groundwater resources characteristics. The objective of the study was to assess the current resources of fresh subsurface and surface waters in different regions. The problems solved in the study are as follows: – the distributions of specific water availability characteristics for territories and population were evaluated; – the absolute and specific amounts of water resources for the constituent entities of the Russian Federation were calculated, as required for the rational use and protection of water resources with estimates of their changes in the recent 30 years.