INLAND WATERWAYS OF RUSSIA: PROBLEMS OF HYDROLOGICAL REGIME AND CHANNEL PROCESSES ON FREE AND REGULATED RIVERS

In modern conditions, when maintaining ship passages on inland waterways, it is necessary to take into account the natural course of the development of the channel process, seasonal and longterm deformations of channels, climatically conditioned changes in the characteristics of river flow, as well as anthropogenic changes in the water and channel regimes of ship rivers. The latter factor is manifested both as a result of engineering (technogenic) impact, as well a result of regulation of river runoff by hydroelectric facilities. Studies have shown that to date, in a number of sections of large navigable rivers of Russia, for these reasons, erosion cutting of channels and an irreversible decrease in low-water levels have occurred. In some sections of waterways, these changes became critical safe navigation, which required the reconstruction of existing ship-passing hydraulic structures and the construction of new low-pressure hydroelectric structures. Currently, the Gorodetsky locks are being reconstructed on the Volga River to ensure navigation on the limiting section from the target of the Nizhny Novgorod hydroelectric station to Nizhny Novgorod; Bagaevsky low-pressure hydroelectric complex is being built on the Don. The construction of the Krasnogorsk water-lifting hydroelectric complex on the Irtysh in the Omsk region has resumed. Possible options are being considered to solve the problem of ensuring navigation on the Kama River section from the Votkinskaya hydroelectric station to Kambarka. Studies of the speed regime of the river flow, carried out in the lower reaches of hydroelectric facilities, showed that with unsteady water movement in the lower reach, there is an activation of sediment transport, both in the summer observation period – in an open channel, and in winter, when water moves under ice.