Lake reprieve

The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, backed down in the face of popular protest last month, and ordered that an oil pipeline be diverted from Lake Baikal, the world's largest mass of fresh water. The East Siberia-Pacific Ocean pipeline will carry 1.6 million barrels of oil a day to fast-growing markets in Asia, bolstering Russia's role as an energy power. It was originally intended to pass within a kilometre of Lake Baikal but will now clear it by 40 kilometres. The 1.5 kilometre deep lake in the middle of Siberia holds 20 per cent of the world's surface fresh water and some 1,500 unique species of plants and animals. It is the planet's oldest and deepest lake, and while not quite the biggest in surface area, still covers an area the size of Belgium. Baikal's 23,000 cubic kilometres of water could keep six billion people supplied for around 40 years. Construction of the $10 billion pipeline, which began last month, is expected to last for years. The original route sparked protests across Russia after ecologists said that seismic activity at the lake, which causes it to widen by 2 cm per year, meant it was only a matter of time before the pipeline would rupture. President Putin used a meeting with officials including the head of the state pipeline monopoly, Transneft, to rule out the original route. At the meeting in Tomsk, where the president was holding a meeting with the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, he said; " If there is even the smallest, the tiniest chance of polluting Baikal, then we must think of future generations. We must do everything to make sure this danger is not just minimised, but eliminated. " The pipeline will now run 40 kilometres to the north. It is estimated the diversion will A shift in the proposed route of a new oil pipeline away from Lake Baikal has delighted conservationists. Nigel Williams reports. Lake reprieve of the lake tiny transparent fish live, made up of 35 per cent fat. There is also the invertebrate epishura, whose consumption of organic material ensures Baikal is the most translucent lake in the world. In the past, effluents from cellulose and paper mills threatened the lake's ecosystem. Kruschev sanctioned the building of mills on the shore of Lake Baikal " to put the lake to work " , so perhaps Putin's move signals a key change from that …