Part 1

This past April, Boris Yatskevich, RF minister of the environment and natural resources, revealed to the State Duma just how dangerous analogue anywhere drinking water in Russia could be. The report rings a warning bell. Every second person in this country has to drink water that is not quite up to safety standards while 11 million people have to drink what by world standards – is not potable water at all. Some 65 percent of the population (mainly in rural areas) have no running water and have to make do with surface water sources. Furthermore, not even running water is necessarily safe enough, what with less man 60 percent of water supply systems equipped with proper water treatment facilities.

The problem was considered by the RF Security Council on three occasions, the last time being in 1998, whereupon the government developed a program to provide drinking water to the population. The program, however, has mainly remained on paper. According to the minister, three things are needed: money, money, and even more money.

Vocabulary:

To reveal – обнаруживать

potable water – питьевая вода

runming water – водопроводная вода

facililities = equipment

whereupon – на чем? где?

2.Ответьте на вопросы.

Who is B. Yatskevich?

What did Boris Yatskevich reveal to the State Duma?

Why is drinking water dangerous in Russia?

What program was developed by the government?

Why has it remained on paper?

Part 2

Humankind learned to chlorinate drinking water about 100 years ago. But it was not until recently that experts suddenly realized that, apart from purifying water of microbes, chlorine compounds also triggered unpredictable reactions with many substances diluted in water, producing new potentially dangerous compounds which can cause allergies, cancer, and heart problems. Furthermore, according to latest research, chloroorganic substances in drinking water considerably weaken human reproductive capacity.

Natural water is a living ecosystem completewith microorganisms, water plants and their vital activity products, as wellas organic compounds. After chlorination, these organic residues produce complex compounds that can get into the human organism not only with water but also with vapor or through undamaged skin when we take a bath.

Today, most countries of the world have slopped chlorinating water and adopted systems of treating water with ozone and ultraviolet rays. Russia has just one ozone treatment facility - in Moscow's southeast

Given Russia's financial situation, it may be go away the years until water in this country will be chlorine-free. After all, the risk of getting cancer from drinking water is incomparable with the risk of infection, which has been on the rise over the past few years. Thus, in 2001, a Hepatitis-A epidemic spread through running water was registered in Protvino and Serpukhov near Moscow. Shortly prior to that, epidemics had occurred in the Chelyabinsk and Omsk regions.

True, chlorination is not the most acute problem in Russia's water supply system. According to the State Committee for Sanitary and Epidemiological Supervision, one water sample in five in the RF does not meet sanitation standards. In some areas (Kalmykia, Ingushetia, Dagestan, Primorye Territory, and the Arkhangelsk, Kaluga and Tomsk regions), up to 70 percent of potable water has a high germ count. Owing to a shortage of fluorides in water, nearly 90 percent of children in central Russia suffer from dental caries. Meanwhile, 50 million Russians daily use water with a higher-than-average content of iron, which tends to cause allergy. The water treatment situation is, of course, the most favorable in Moscow although not all is well even there.

Vocabulary:

to trigger - вызывать

to dilute - растворять

complete, aj - полный

residue - осадок, вещество

fluoride - фтористое соединение, фторид

2.Ответьте на вопросы.

1. When did humankind learn to chlorinate drinking water?

2. What do chorine compounds trigger apart from purifying water of

3. What can cause allergies, cancer and heart problems?

4. What is natural water?

5. Where can organic residues get into after chlorination?

6. How can they get into the human organism?

7. What systems of treating water did most countries adopt?

8. How many ozone treatment facilities has Russia?

9 What was registered in Protvino and Serpukhov in 2001?

10.Where else had such epidemics occurred?

3. Расскажите о преимуществах и недостатках хлорирования питьевой воды.

Speak about other forms of water treatment.

Speak about natural water.

4. Озаглавьте каждый абзац текста и составьте план пересказа текста.