The Quality of Water Resources as a Factor of Regional Strategizing

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to study the processes of water quality management, which are considered as the main factor of the strategic social and economic development of the region and also to form tools supporting this process. The article analyzes the state and development trends of the water sector of the Rostov region from the standpoint of solving the problems of its strategic social and economic development. The authors demonstrate the possibility of intellectualization of regional strategizing processes through the use of water quality monitoring of the knowledge of experts with the use of fuzzy logic. The review of existing approaches to the assessment of water resources quality is given. It is shown that these approaches do not take into account the different requirements of water users to the content of chemicals and compounds in the water but assess the state of water resources in terms of conformity of concentration indices of polluting substances to maximally allowable concentrations. The authors suggest assessing the quality of water resources in compliance with the criteria of the contamination of water resources set for every category of water users. The approach proposed by the authors implies the assessment of water quality in two modes – differentiated and complex. Meanwhile, the suggested tools are universal and can be used in the systems of regional strategizing of the use of various water basins. A conceptual representation of the structure of the management system of water resources quality in the region within the system of regional strategizing is formed and the main problems of its development are identified.