Consequences of the Kakhovka Reservoir destruction for irrigation and water supply of the southern part of Ukraine

Abstract

The Kakhovka reservoir construction on the Dnipro River solved some issues: navigation, water supply and irrigation on the southern part of Ukraine and Crimea, electricity generation, flood control. Environmental problems, the historical layer destruction and social effect of the populated areas flooding were not taken into account. Water is taken from the Kakhovka Reservoir by the North-Crimean Canal, by the Kakhovka Irrigation Canal, and by the North Rogachyn, Upper-Tarasivka, and Nikopol irrigation systems. The total irrigated area of the more than 1.0 million ha was supplied from the Kakhovka Reservoir in the south of Ukraine including the Crimea. The Kakhovka Reservoir is the source of drinking water supply for the large cities of Nikopol, Marganets, Pokrov, Kryvyi Rih, Energodar, as well as the number of rural settlements in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions and Crimea. The Kakhovka irrigation system is the largest automated irrigation system in Europe. The Kakhovka canal is the of water supply source for the Syirogozy, Chaplinka, and Pryazov irrigation systems. The canal provides centralized water supply of the Ivanivka group water supply system (20 rural settlements of the Kherson region with the total population of 26.8 thousand people), the Western group water supply system (water supply of the 492 thousand residents of Yakymivka, Melitopol, Pryazovske and Berdiansk districts, Kyrylivka and Pryazovske settlements, Berdiansk city, Prymorsk). The North Crimean Canal supplies water for the irrigation area of approximately 400,000 ha and to the water supply systems of Simferopol, Sevastopol, Yalta, Feodosia, Kerch and other Crimean settlements. The 7 reservoirs were built to regulate water storage in Crimea. The North Rohachyn irrigation system supplies water to 81,800 ha of agricultural fields. The Dnipro–Kryvyi Rih Canal is designed to provide water to the Kryvyi Rih industrial district and to water 14,700 ha of the Nikopol irrigation system. Nearby is the water intake of the Sofiivka group water supply system, which supplies water to 34 settlements in the Apostolove, Nikopol and Sofiivka districts. The consequences of the Kakhovka Reservoir destruction for water supply and irrigation in the south of Ukraine are significant: the decrease of irrigated land, agriculture damage; decline of river ports; water supply restrictions for industrial enterprises and population of southern Ukraine and Crimea; limitation of the electricity loads; the new decision for cooling system of the ZNPP; ecological changes in the Dnipro delta, salinization of the Dnipro-Bug estuary. Kakhovka Reservoir restoration is necessary condition for the development of southern Ukraine, which will require significant financial and human resources.