ABSTRACT
Surface water and groundwater resources in the former USSR have been monitored on a regular basis for many years. Monitoring certain aspects of groundwaters started over a century ago and, in 1993, a centenary of observations at Site No. 1 in the Kamennaia steppe, Voronezh region was marked. Regular surface water monitoring began in the mid-1930s based on a network of hydrological observations. From 1936, Hydrological Yearbooks regularly published data on the chemical composition of rivers and lakes. Until World War II, monitoring was carried out at several hundred sites for major ions, pH, colour index, transparency, etc., of surface waters.
