Design and Engineering Invasion into the Caspian

Abstract

The Caspian Sea is the intercontinental, international, transboundary enclosed inland water body. It receives flows of such large rivers as Volga, Ural, Terek, Kura, and Sefidrud. The Caspian is highly dynamic. In view of its unique behavior, precisely the water level fluctuations, the research of not only these processes and their forecast, but careful study of the design and engineering solutions were required here because the results of such researches determine the social and economic development of the coastal areas.

The Caspian became the focus of attention usually at the times when the period of its level drop changed over for its rise (or vice versa). It is in these periods that the “critical mass” of the gradually accumulating environmental, social and economic consequences of any kind should find “outlet”. In other words, the need “to save the Caspian” and “to be saved from the Caspian” appeared. In the past decades, till 1930, the economic activities in the Caspian region, such as oil production, shipping, fishery, lifestyle of the local population got adapted to the existing level of the Caspian Sea. The first level drop in the Caspian in the 1930s was the first alarming and even shocking bell that stirred anxiety for its future. At the same time, the change of the Caspian level has incurred considerable damage.

This situation forced the riparian states to develop various projects aimed to take into consideration the Caspian level fluctuations and, simultaneously, to stabilize its level. Many suggested solutions were of a global scale and were not realizable. Moreover, the developers of practically all projects did not understand properly the significance of these processes, thus, inadequate assessment of their consequences. And, finally, many proposals concerning development of the riparian territories with regard to the Caspian level fluctuations could lead to serious environmental disturbances that would entail negative consequences in the following decades.