declining catches of freshwater fish and outbreaks of cholera in southern river basins, Kremlin leaders added an environ- mental division to the State Planning Committee, consolidated en- forcement powers in the Ministry of Reclamation and Water Manage- ment (Minvodkhoz), and boosted funding (the equivalent of $1 l billion for 1976-80).
Deterioration of the Volga River has been halted and Moscow's water quality slightly improved, writes Gustafson, a Harvard government professor, but the clean water...