The impact of destruction of the Kakhovka dam on the environmental status of the Odesa area of the Black Sea

Abstract

The paper provides a chronological description of the aftermath and the effect of blowing up the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant dam by Russian occupation forces of 6 June 2023 on the seawater quality in the coastal zone of Odesa agglomeration, according to the results of operational environmental monitoring in the early weeks upon the man-made disaster. Such a description is indispensable for assessing the scope of pollution of marine water areas and calculation of the damage inflicted on the marine ecosystem and its natural resources, adjustment and verification of mathematical models which will further be used to prognosticate the consequences of the dam destruction for the marine ecosystem. According to the data published in open sources, development of the environmental, sanitary and microbiological situation in the coastal zone of the city of Odesa over June 2023 is described, the dynamics of some indices of the sea water quality are shown, and the pollutants the concentration of which exceeded the maximum permissible concentrations set for them, as well as sanitary and microbiological indices, according to which the population is forbidden from swimming in the sea, are indicated. In addition, as a consequence of the abnormal desalination of sea waters and the inflow of a large amount of nutrients and organic matter into the sea, the phenomenon of algal bloom is described, and a qualitative forecast of its consequences is provided. It is concluded that owing to the accumulated reserves of organic matter in the bottom sediment probability of hypoxic conditions and suffocation of hydrobionts in the summer periods will increase in the years to follow. It is in view of the accumulation of pollutants in bottom sediments and the expected secondary pollution of sea water that the biological diversity of the marine ecosystem within the Odesa region will degrade and the quality of its biological resources will deteriorate.