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The Volga River is today a cascade of lowland reservoirs. This allows flood prevention, river-sea navigation and hydropower generation. There are also disadvantages, such as the flooding of fertile floodplain lands, a decrease in water quality and drastic algal blooms in the summer season. Due to the problems triggered by the current system, alternative solutions have been proposed that include a decrease in the amount of water stored and a reduction in energy production being, which can be compensated with floati...

The Volga River is essentially a cascade of reservoirs that provide hydroelectric energy. This technical solution made it possible to produce electricity for industrialization, to ensure the passage of river-sea vessels between five seas and to stop floods on the Volga River. Although often considered a green energy source, there are environmental and economic considerations that should be accounted for in a holistic and sustainable perspective, i.e. a life cycle of ca. 50 years, areal inundation by reservoir wate...

Karezes represent a sustainable water supply since their discharge is regulated by the natural groundwater renewal in the mountains and on upslope surfaces in the valleys. Although most karezes have become inactive due to lowered groundwater levels, they can still be used together with other accessible information sources to initially and remotely interpret basin geohydrology and the groundwater resources when they were constructed (and today if still active). This is mainly done by using karezes to map the depth ...

Environmental change is, today, an unavoidable cause of societal stress that leads to suffering and migration. The focus here is not on change itself, but on the local and regional resources and environment conditions that frame both the extent of change and the alternative actions that might mitigate effects. In this context, a modelling approach to resource and risk assessment and possible responses change is presented. Complex systems are not initially suitable for a bottom-up approach to modelling that assumes...