The final part of the series exploring the importance of water in power politics. The Giver of Life. As the Soviet Union verges on disintegration, water is at the heart of the claims to sovereignity of many of its ethnic groups. The death of the Aral Sea and the pollution of the River Volga are seen by many nationalists as symbolic of all that is wrong with communism. And as religious movements grow alongside nationalist ones, both the Muslims in central Asia and the Russian Orthodox see the fight against environmental destruction as a moral crusade. Written and narrated by Michael Elliott.
Series producer Michael Waldman 0 PICTURE STORY: page 71