Officials were forced to introduce a state of emergency in the port of Vladivostok, as the dried-up rivers and reserves would not yield more than 200,000 cubic meters a day for a city of 600,000 people requiring at least 450,000 cubic meters of water daily.

By Vladivostok's mayor Yuri Kopylov's order, water would be turned on only once every two days for four hours at a time.

Moreover, the water would have to be unfiltered for economy's sake, thus making it too dangerous to drink.

These draconian measures are likely to grow harsher as the city's water requirements prove too much for the depleted water reserves, forcing the city officials to desperate actions to conserve water also needed for winter's heating.

Every company in the city had been instructed to dig a well in its office's backyard. Ships, foreign and Russian alike, are no longer allowed to replenish their water tanks in Vladivostok's port. All wells and springs are now "strategic reserves" placed under guard.

The government meanwhile pledged to "give Vladivostok material aid to deal with the water crisis," Deputy Prime Minister Vladimir Yakovlev assured the Primorye region's governor Sergei Darkin.

Tankers would bring water to Vladivostok from the neighboring regions -- a familiar solution for the city which had often suffered from droughts and had been offered similar aid in 1977-1978.

Still, the temporary measure is unlikely to considerably ease the suffering of the city where even meteorologists are losing hope.

"The situation can only grow worse in the next couple of months. Our forecast is not a good one -- this fall's rains will be only half of the usual norm, and the water reserves will continue to dry up," the region's chief weather expert Boris Kubai warned.

Vladivostok's situation is all the more surreal for the fact that the city sits on top of a huge subterranean lake, capable of providing up to 200,000 cubic meters of pure drinking water daily.

TERRA.WIRE