PROTECTION AND MANAGEMENT OF WATER RESOURCES OF THE USSR IN THE 1960-1970th

This article analyzes the system of management, utilization, and protection of water resources in the USSR during the 1960s and 1970s–a period characterized by the active development of the Soviet environmental management framework. Employing the concept of environmental history as its methodological foundation, the study examines the historical interaction between human society and the natural environment. The research reveals that the key obstacle to effective water resource management and conservation was institutional fragmentation. Responsibility was dispersed across numerous agencies, including the Ministry of Land Reclamation and Water Management, the Department of Water Resources under Gosplan (the State Planning Committee), the Ministry of Fisheries, and the Ministry of Energy and Electrification. Furthermore, individual republican Councils of Ministers established their own regional bodies in charge of water resources. Consequently, the competing interests of these diverse actors often hindered the rational utilization of water within the national economy. The study concludes that Soviet water policy was largely unbalanced. The proliferation of competing water users and regulatory bodies resulted in a dilution of accountability, creating a situation where everyone and no one was responsible for the state of water resources. Future research avenues include the study of water management during the late Soviet period and the investigation of scientific and technological policies in the field of wastewater treatment.