Ирригация Заволжья: трудный путь к победе над засухой и неурожаями (на примере строительства Кутулукской оросительной системы в 1935-1941 годах)
Irrigation of the Volga Region: A Difficult Path to Victory over Drought and Crops Failures (On the Example of the Construction of the Kutuluk Irrigation System in 1935-1941)

Summary/Abstract: The article presents the results of a study of the history of construction and operation of the Kutuluk irrigation system, which was part of the irrigation project of the Volga region, developed in the early 1930s. It was the most complex and large-scale construction of the period of industrialization in the Middle Volga region, which lasted almost seven years (1935–1941). Tens of thousands of people from different regions of the country took part in it. Thanks to the hard work and heroic efforts of the builders, the facility was built and successfully operated in the future for fifty years. In the most difficult and responsible period (1938–1939), construction work on the Kutuluk River was headed by A.E.Bochkin, a well-known hydraulic engineer who later supervised the construction of the Irkutsk and Krasnoyarsk hydroelectric power plants. The introduction of the practice of irrigation of arid lands allowed not only to overcome the problem of regular droughts and crop failures, but also to raise the agriculture of the Kuibyshev region to a new level. The conducted research is based on published and unpublished sources, most of which are being introduced into scientific circulation for the first time. First of all, these are archival documents from the funds of organizations that supervised the construction of the Kutuluk irrigation system, periodical press materials, resolutions of the Soviet government, as well as clerical documents of regional and local authorities. The purpose and content of the study correspond to the subject area of socio-economic and environmental history of Russia. Its results will preserve the historical memory of the people who built the water management facility, which for a long time was of great importance for the economy of the region and the life of the local population.

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