Transcript of the beginning of the meeting:

Vladimir Putin: Ms Seliverstova, your agency is in charge of the water management strategy, which was put in place almost a year ago. How is this going? Also, how successful have your efforts been to monitor flooding? And what about your relations with other agencies like the Emergencies Ministry and the weather service? And, finally, what is going on at the Sayano-Shushenskaya hydroelectric power station?

Marina Seliverstova: We are doing well, Mr Putin. The water management strategy, which you supported last year and which was upheld with a government resolution, was enacted, and we have been working with the Ministry of Natural Resources and parts of the executive branch that are directly involved to implement its provisions.

The main purpose of the strategy is to ensure sustainable water use while protecting public safety and minimising water-inflicted damage. The water management strategy also gives us a road map to work towards this goal.

The strategy builds on a number of fundamental documents that are part of the Water Code of the Russian Federation. They mostly pertain to the multipurpose use and protection of water resources, which this water management legislation describes as the foundation of water management and planned use.

This is complex legislation with many different components, and it actually takes into account specific water resources and specific regions and gives specific recommendations for water management.

The agency has started implementing these recommendations, beginning with densely populated regions and water resources most affected by human activity, which will help us develop a balanced approach to subsequent water management.

Another major, complex issue that we are addressing through the water management strategy is developing, approving and passing regulations for the use of reservoirs. We must work out about 350 regulations. Naturally, this legislation is very technical and complex, and it requires a lot of work. However, before drawing up these regulations we needed to evaluate the situation. The water management system was put in place more than 50, 60 and in some cases 70 years ago, and some of the regulations in effect have become obsolete. The hydrological and the weather conditions are also changing, which requires further changes to these regulations.

Before we launched this big effort, we decided to evaluate the current regulations in order to decide how to reform them. This work is already completed, and we have drawn up a timetable to implement these measures.

We expect to have this all done by 2014, and we hope to have a new piece of legislation that will allow us to use the whole series of water resources under our management more effectively.

Vladimir Putin: In effect, you hope to compile a passport of sorts for each reservoir?

Marina Seliverstova: These rules pertain to the efficient drawdown and refilling of reservoirs and other water resources under our management. These are the updated rules.

Another goal set forth by the water management strategy is to improve the performance of interagency task forces. Let me explain what an interagency task force is. Our agency now has 11 such task forces, which are composed of representatives from all involved agencies, both federal and regional agencies. The groups also include representatives of privately owned dams and other hydraulic structures, as well representatives from the Federal Service for Hydrometeorology and Environmental Monitoring. These groups have the authority to make recommendations and develop schedules for drawing down and refilling major reservoirs.

Another such group has been in place since the disaster at the Sayano-Shushenskaya hydroelectric power station. The first day after the disaster, we established this interagency task force to operate at both regional and federal level and include representatives from the central departments of all agencies that are directly involved in regulation.

This group has held more than 60 meetings since the accident, thereby allowing us to determine the safest, optimal schedules for draining and refilling the Angara-Yenisei water system and ensure a sustainable water supply downstream, in the area of Minusinsk, Abakan and Krasnoyarsk.

These interagency task forces currently rely on projections from the Federal Service for Hydrometeorology and Environmental Monitoring. Here, I would like to say that because we are very dependent on these projections, this issue is a priority, and we need to replace these projections with mathematical modelling and carry out long-term studies of various bodies of water.

I think that the water management strategy will also play a positive role in this respect, because one of its goals is to improve the system for monitoring bodies of water and provide our agency and other similar services with reliable projections.

Now I'd like to talk more about your question about the current operations at the Sayano-Shushenskaya hydroelectric power station.

After the August 17 disaster, we immediately established a group responsible for restoring the schedule of drawing down and refilling the reservoir. But at that time we realised that there had been an increase in water flow during the entire period of the Sayano-Shushenskaya power station's operation.

I'd like to show you a small chart. These are the snow reserves as of April 1, 2010. As you see, snow accumulation is two, three or more times above average. We realised that the flooding that started in early June was extreme.

Vladimir Putin: This is for April 1, 2010, correct?

Marina Seliverstova: Yes, this is for April 1, and here is a more recent chart, for June 16. As you see, most of the snow had already melted. I'd like to show you the schedule for the hydroelectric power station's operation. These schedules were calculated using mathematical modelling and predictions from the Federal Service for Hydrometeorology and Environmental Monitoring. The greatest flow was recorded during the first ten days of June - about 9,000 cubic metres per second. This abnormally high flow corresponds to a 100-year flood, or a flood that has a one percent chance of occurring each year.

These graphs show water inflow and outflow. Today, we have stabilised the inflow somewhat, to about 6,800 cubic meters per second, which is twice the normal average for the season.

Vladimir Putin: Did you build the additional spillway in time?

Marina Seliverstova: Yes, I think the additional spillway was very timely, and it was very good that we had already launched the two generating units, which provided an outlet for the additional water and even allowed us to generate electricity in the process, so they are not idle.

The spillways are discharging 4,100 cubic metres of water per second. We have an additional capacity of about eight cubic kilometres, which will allow us to deal with any flooding. At the same time, we realise that the flow is gradually going down, and we must begin to think about storing it to provide water in the autumn and winter period. We will gradually start storing water for winter. We have already made plans - RusHydro has informed us that they are installing additional units. We need to ensure that three to four units operate at normal capacity and maintain a stable flow of water downstream for those who live below the Sayano-Shushenskaya hydroelectric power station.