During an inspection of the State Commission on Mineral Reserves, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin met with Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Yury Trutnev. 

Transcript of the beginning of the meeting:

Yury Trutnev: Mr Putin, I would like to report on the implementation of the directive you gave in Rostov in July of last year.

We have developed the Water Strategy of the Russian Federation, which analyses the condition of Russia's water resources. We have outlined primary goals, and coordinated the Water Strategy with the development concepts of Russian water-intensive industries.

We mapped out the major objectives and grouped them according to application areas, such as the development of the industry, housing and utilities, fisheries, agriculture, inland water transport and hydropower engineering. All of these goals are described in detail in the Development Concept until 2020 and are coordinated with all federal ministries.

The implementation of these objectives will lead to the considerable improvement of environmental quality in the Russian Federation, namely decreasing the negative environmental impact by 60% and improving the ecological quality of water bodies. We expect these measures alone to increase life expectancy by two or three years.

In terms of the economic effects concerned, the implementation of these measures will improve water consumption rationality, halve water losses, decrease gross product water-holding capacity by 60 percent, lower the energy intensity of the economy and enhance protection of the population from harmful effects of high waters and other dangerous natural phenomena.

Vladimir Putin: With regard to health, what is of concern, first and foremost, is the purity of drinking water. Am I correct in this?

Yury Trutnev: Yes, exactly. We have coordinated all issues, received experts' approval, and submitted a draft to the Government for consideration.

Vladimir Putin: How long will it take for consideration?

Yury Trutnev: The draft is intended for consideration in July during a visit to one of the water bodies, if you have no objections.

Vladimir Putin: Good.