Institute for Water and Environmental Problems SB RAS: History, Development, and Basic and Applied Scientific Results

This article is timed to the 300th anniversary of the Russian Academy of Sciences and is dedicated to the scientific activity of the Institute for Water and Environmental Problems, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences (IWEP SB RAS). A brief description of its history is given. The institute was created to conduct basic research on environmental processes and phenomena, assess the state of water resources, and study the issues of balanced nature management in the vast Siberian region. The main scientific directions of the institute’s activities are listed: formation, monitoring, and use of water resources in Siberia (based on the basin approach) and the development of scientific bases for environmental protection and rational nature management taking into account anthropogenic factors and climate change. The structure of the institute, including seven laboratories and two branches, is presented, and the main research objects (the Ob and Irtysh rivers, the Novosibirsk Reservoir, and Teletskoye and Chany lakes and their catchment areas), scientific projects, and their results are noted. The largest projects include an assessment of ecological consequences of the construction of large hydroelectric power plants (Katun, Krapivinskii, Boguchansk, and Evenkiiskii); an ecological assessment of the consequences of nuclear tests at the Semipalatinsk nuclear test site; the ecological support of rocket and space activity, including the construction and operation of the Vostochny cosmodrome; research into the current state and scientific substantiation of methods and means to ensure sustainable functioning of the water management complex in the basins of the Ob and Irtysh rivers; research into methods and means to ensure sustainable functioning of the water management complex in the basins of the Ob and Irtysh rivers; and research on the environmental protection of the Ob and Irtysh rivers.