New edition of the Water Code: prohibitions, exceptions and how to remove the status of a flood zone

New rules of the Water Code: what is prohibited for building in flood zones

Since August 4, 2026, amendments to the Water Code have entered into force in Russia, which significantly tighten the requirements for the use of areas subject to flooding and flooding. The main innovation is a complete ban on capital construction in such zones.

From conditional restriction to absolute prohibition

The previous version of the code allowed the construction of facilities in flood zones, subject to the equipment of engineering protection. Formally, building was possible if the project provided for protective structures.

The updated version (Article 67.1 of the Water Code) introduces an unconditional ban on:

construction of any capital construction facilities;
development of land plots for such construction.
The only exception is structures designed for engineering protection of territories from the negative effects of water (dams, coastal protection systems and similar facilities).

What protective objects are allowed

The exception applies only to structures that protect territories from water. These include:

landslide dams are soil shafts that prevent flooding of adjacent lands;
coastal protection structures — protection of the coast from destruction and erosion;
pumping stations and drainage systems — to drain excess water;
regulatory structures — directional dams, spurs, dams that affect the movement of riverbed streams.
All these facilities are now allowed to be built even within flood zones — this is the only legal exception to the general ban.

How to exclude a site from the flood zone

The status of the zone is not permanent. The procedure for its removal is determined by Government Decree No. 360.

The basis for termination of the status is the creation of engineering protection confirming the security of the territory.

The procedure looks like this: the authorized body of the subject of the Russian Federation sends a proposal to Rosvodresursy, which makes a decision within 30 calendar days. The zone is considered invalid from the moment the relevant information is deleted from the Unified State Register of Real Estate (USRN).

The situation in the Rostov region: examples of flooded areas

The Rostov region traditionally belongs to the regions with a high risk of flooding. The Don River occupies the third largest catchment area among the rivers of the European part of Russia.

The problem is aggravated by siltation of riverbeds and overgrowth of small rivers. There are 179 settlements in the potential risk zone, where about 89.7 thousand people live.

In 2023-2024, abnormal flooding was recorded in Rostov-on-Don (Virazh, Svetoch, Truzhenikov, Bratstvo farms), as well as in Bataysk, Azov, Aksai and the farms of the Myasnikovsky district. At that time, about 300,000 residents were in the flood zone.

Scientific research was carried out on the section of the Don River from the village of Kazanskaya to the village of Migulinskaya. There, flood zones of varying security were modeled for subsequent data entry into cadastral maps.