Vadim Altaev, on the contrary, is certain of that: “There will be eternal need for water. Owing to climate changes more and more people will have to buy imported water. It is an untapped market at the moment; that is why it is too early to speak of its structuring. But perhaps, we should have already started preparing for it yesterday,” the expert concluded.
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He believes that North Africa and the Middle East will be the first regions to start purchasing the Russian water. “There may be more prosperous developing countries, since water in Central Europe is not of good quality, I don’t take the Alps into consideration.”
The market of water as a strategic resource is still untapped, but maybe one day water will be delivered via pipelines like crude and gas do today. But water will be exported for a much longer time, for water resources are inexhaustible.
Moreover, transmission of large volumes of liquids is well-developed in Russia. “We may transport fresh water similar to crude transportation - in cisterns or tankers. For instance, Soviet tankers used to transport wine at long distances. We may revive this tradition with water.”
Besides, water prices per liter will amount to today’s prices of mineral oil. Now purified water costs about ten rubles per liter, while world oil prices reach about 14-15 rubles per liter. Thus, Russia may make a fortune selling water.
But there is one condition. In order to make money, Russia has to protect nature, pompous as it may sound. “No pain, no gain. We should address ecological problems. Lake Baikal, Russia’s treasure, is polluted by a paper pulp mill. I hope that the ecological measures that are well under way now will save the lake,” the expert said.
Natalia Trefilova
Bigness.ru
Translated by Julia Bulygina
Pravda.ru
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