Reforms of Peter the Great on Supervision of Hydraulic Structures - 300 Years
Besides the vast territory (1/6 of the Earth land), Russia has significant resources of mineral and raw materials, water, wind and solar energy. Peter I paid much attention to the hydraulic structures. Construction of the plants and factories for producing products from cast iron, iron, copper and other metals set the task to construct the impounding dams for creation of higher water pressures and driving the shaft of cars, lumber harvesters, knitting looms, heavy hammers. The distinctive feature of Russia is the abundance of rivers, significant forest reserves, and the severity of the climate. All this did not allow to transfer without changes the European experience of hydraulic structures construction. The Russian type of hydraulic installations was developed independently based on knowledge, skills and experience of the builders. Frequent accidents at the first low-pressure plant dams in Russia allowed to develop recommendations both to the peculiarities of their design and construction, and to supervision during the operational period, especially in the period of floods on the rivers. The term «safety of hydraulic structures» appeared in the Russian hydraulic literature, most probably, only in the work of the engineer-colonel V. Rozhkov «Information on Ural dams in general, and in particular about measures to protect them from destruction during waterflood». In the personal library of Peter I, who all his life had a huge interest in books, more than a quarter of the books were of technical orientation. In 1708 Peter I translated and published in Moscow the first textbook on hydraulic engineering in Russian «The book on the ways of creating water circulation of the rivers» previously published in Paris in 1693 and Amsterdam in 1696. Peter I promoted translation into Russian and publication in Russia of the best European monographs on hydrotechnical construction. By the decree of Peter I in 1724 the Academy of Sciences, University and Gymnasium were approved in St. Petersburg with him. Education under science (hydraulic engineering, hydrology, geology, mechanics of materials, etc.) were greatly developed under Peter I.