Risks to Aquatic Ecosystems in Mountain Regions and Their Possible Management

All water objects (WO) play a very significant role in any country and their constant study is always difficult. Pollution, caused by intense increases in human activity, exacerbates the situation. The collapse of the former USSR resulted in insufficient or the absence of WO monitoring in Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia. The monitoring was especially problematic in hard-to-access mountain regions and across borders of the former USSR republics. Preservation, safety and the correct use of WO are most real and urgent because [1]: (i) many WO are located in mountainous, seismically active and densely populated regions that have high risks of natural and manmade catastrophes, such as earthquakes, landslips, and mudflows; as a result some WO can disappear resulting in a reduction of water reservoirs and in WO pollution; (ii) the lack of water sources, hot climate and droughts increase water consumption; (iii) WO management and safety is difficult to maintain because of the heavily complex architecture of high water dams and huge artificial reservoirs, and the significant drifts in rivers; in addition, pressure from the water mass in artificial reservoirs can stress the Earth's crust, increasing the probability of earthquakes; (iv) nuclear power plants, their heat sinks and rocket fuel tanks are often located near WO, and such objects can be the subject of terrorist attacks that may lead to global ecological catastrophes; and (v) poorly guarded borders of Chechnya, Afghanistan and other zones of frozen conflicts can further stimulate an insurgency in close proximity to WO. A recent terrorist act took place at the hydro-station in the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic of Russian North Caucasus, and similar terrorist attacks could result in huge non-reversible pollution of river basins in the Caspian, Black, and Kara Seas and, consequently, the World Ocean that also determines the global climate. The mountain rivers, with their large WO in the Caucasus region and Central Asia, are considered. Because our generation has faced a growing threat of global pollution with great irreversible negative effects, countries have to coordinate all their efforts to save the environment and the population. Some our experimental and theoretical studies concerned with risk assessments, catastrophe prediction and prevention of natural and industrial WO, are presented in [2, 3] and in our international projects entitled (a). “Assessment of damage from dam destruction in hydro systems of Caucasus Kura River”; and (b). ISTC Project: “Assessing and decreasing risks of damage, caused by Tien–Shan mountain lakes outbursts”.