Exploring Russia diary :: 24 November, Vladivostok

If there is one thing you would think they would have plenty of in Vladivostok, it is water. But when Katya Rozhkova turns her taps on at home, nothing comes out.

"We only get cold running water every other day" Katya told me, "and not for very long. We haven't had hot water for a while now."

Katya has turned her flat into a mini-reservoir

That's because Vladivostok is suffering from its worst water shortage in decades. Like most residents of a city, Katya, a 19 year-old student, tries to make the most of those moments when the water is switched on.

"We try to fill up as many containers as possible to keep us going" Katya said, "so we can wash ourselves and keep our clothes clean."

Katya has turned her flat into a mini-reservoir. Everything has been filled with water; jars and buckets in the bathroom, barrels and saucepans in the kitchen.

The blame-game

Across the city on Red Banner Street, we found a crowd of residents queuing up in the freezing cold by a natural spring.

They were all armed with buckets and big bottles. This has been their only regular supply of water for the last three months.

It is estimated that 70% of the water network needs repair

Among them was 79 year-old Valentina and her 83 year-old husband. When their turn came, they crouched down and began filling their bottles with water.

"This is so hard for us," Valentina told me. "I've never seen anything like this before, even when we had war and famine, we had water - now there's no war and no famine and no water."

I asked Valentina what was causing the water shortage. She told me there'd been a big drought in the summer, the water level in the local reservoirs was disastrously low.

Some people in the queue though thought that this was more than just natural disaster. The blame-game has begun.

"It's the local authority's fault," one man with a bucket cried. "Those officials have stolen all the money that was supposed to be spent on renovating the city's water system."

Map of Steve's route Your questions answered

As for officials, the regional governor blames the mayor - the mayor blames the governor.

Now the local prosecutor has told both the governor and the mayor to get things fixed fast.

That won't be easy - Vladivostok's water system is in a state of decay.

Experts have estimated that 70% of the network needs urgent repair, like the old rusting water pipes you see all around the city.

Fears of disease

At Vladivostok's infectious diseases hospital, they're preparing for the worst.

Doctors fear that if the water crisis continues, people's health could suffer.

They warn the population that the quality of the water from springs in the city is poor - but the water coming out of taps intermittently is now just as bad.

Extra beds have been laid out in corridors. The hospital's own water supply hasn't been cut off yet. But staff have put barrels full of water in each ward, just in case.

Russia can put people into space, but not necessarily provide water

"There could be a burst of infectious disease" one doctor told us. "It could happen any day."

Medical staff remembered a similar water crisis outside Vladivostok more than 30 years ago. Back then, there were hundreds of cases of typhoid - no one wants a repeat of that.

Back on Red Banner Street, Valentina and her husband had filled up their bottles. Now they were struggling to tie them to a tiny trolley with a long piece of string.

As I watched them drag their load away towards their apartment block, I couldn't help thinking, Russia can put people into space; it can build some of the world's most sophisticated weapons but in the 21st century, it can't even provide people here with a regular supply of one of their most basic needs - water.

1. Leave Moscow: 9 November 2. Yekaterinburg: 10 November 3. Omsk: 11-13 November 4. Novosibirsk: 14-15 November 5. Krasnoyarsk: 16 November 6. Irkutsk: 16-19 November 7. Vladivostok: 20-24 November