river. River shipping declined after 1878 with the opening of the Gornozavodskaya railway. Since the early 20th century, shipment of metals was nearly halted and the barges were only occasionally transporting grain and supplies. The last barge trip occurred in 1920. As a result, many settlements along the river bank have been abandoned. However, the ironworks remained and provided the Soviet Army with metal during World War II. Commercial use The Chusovaya is extensively used for water supply. In particular, water from Volchihinskoe reservoir is supplied to the Upper Iset Pond to serve the needs of Yekaterinburg and its suburbs. In order to improve the water supply, Nyazepetrovsk cascade was built in the mid 1970s. With this hydraulic system, Western Chusovaya was supplied with water from the Nyazepetrovsk reservoir on the Ufa. There are 15 small reservoirs at the plants on the tributaries of Chusovaya. The river basin contains numerous deposits of iron, chromium, platinum, gold, diamond and coal. They were developed since the 17th century, some have been depleted and some are still being mined. Major settlements on the river (from source to the mouth) are Revda, Pervouralsk, Bilimbai, Staroutkinsk, Kyn, Ust-Koiva, Chusovoy and Verhnechusovskie Gorodki. River is navigable from the city of Chusovoy, but the navigation sees very little commercial use nowadays. The railway bridge at the river mouth limits the height of passing ships to . Besides, between the 1930s and early 1980s, the river basin was intensively used for logging; logs were rafted loose, i.e. neither guided nor bundled, that cluttered the river. The last such rafting was carried out on Chusovaya in 1973, and since 1990 it is legally prohibited in Russia. Ecology According to the Office for Environmental Protection of Perm Oblast, the water of the river near the town of Chusovoy is contaminated and does not meet the standards for the drinking and sanitary water. In 2006, the content of copper exceeded the maximum permissible concentration (MPC) twice, manganese 8 times, iron 5 times, petroleum 2 times (it was 21 times MPC in 2003) and hexavalent chromium 1.5 times (mostly due to the plant "Chrompic" in Pervouralsk). The biggest polluters of the river are Chusovskoy Steel Works and Chusovskoy Gorvodocanal. Tourism Chusovaya has long been known for its rock formations, many of which have poetic names. They pose no dangers to light vessels and attract tourism. A tourist route was formed here in