Antonina Dolomanzhi23:37, 06.06.23

Fields in the south of Ukraine may turn into deserts, and a large number of sea and freshwater fish may die, experts say.

The Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine published a preliminary assessment of the consequences of the destruction of the Kakhovskaya HPP by the occupiers . According to their estimates, the fields in the south of Ukraine may turn into a desert, and a large number of sea and freshwater fish may die.

As the ministry reports, according to preliminary estimates, approximately 10,000 hectares of agricultural land on the right bank and several times more on the left bank of the region, which is currently under occupation, will be flooded due to a terrorist attack on the hydroelectric power plant in Kherson region. “Detailed information will be known in the coming days, after the analysis of information and pictures about the size of the flooding,” the department clarified. 

In addition, due to the Russian terrorist attack, the water supply of 31 field irrigation systems of Dnipropetrovsk, Kherson and Zaporizhia regions will be stopped.

According to the ministry, in 2021 these systems provided irrigation for 584,000 hectares, from which about 4 million tons of grain and oil crops were harvested for about 1.5 billion dollars. This year, only 13 irrigation systems are operating on the right bank of the Dnieper. 

“The terrorist act at the Kakhovskaya HPP actually left 94% of the irrigation systems in the Kherson region, 74% – in the Zaporizhia region, and 30% – in the Dnipropetrovsk region without a source of water. The destruction of the Kakhovskaya HPP will lead to the fact that the fields in the south of Ukraine may turn into deserts as soon as next year “, the Ministry of Agrarian Policy believes. 

At the same time, without the Kakhovsky Reservoir, not only farmers and water users will suffer, but also the sources of drinking water supply of settlements.

The ministry also emphasizes that the destruction of the Kakhovskaya HPP will also have negative consequences for fisheries. In particular, the death of fish, both young and adults, has already been recorded. In addition, the spawning period has just ended and due to the drop in the water level, the caviar will dry out in the wet areas. 

They also predict the death of the fauna of the reservoir carried away by the flow of water into the floodplains formed below the dam of the Kakhovskaya HPP, because when the “flood level” decreases, they will end up on dry land. 

“Another problem will be the entry and death of freshwater fish and other biological resources in the salty waters of the Black Sea. In turn, the Black Sea fauna may also die from the massive influx of fresh water,” the ministry explained.

Therefore, due to the destruction of the Kakhovskaya HPP, losses to the fishing industry from the death of only adults may reach 95 thousand tons or about 4 billion UAH. In total, according to preliminary calculations, losses from the death of all biological resources will amount to UAH 10.5 billion. 

It is emphasized that the negative consequences of devastation of aquatic biological resources can be observed for several years in a row, even if the bed of the Kakhovsky reservoir is filled in the near future. Since the quantitative and qualitative composition of fish populations is renewed, the restoration of bottom coenoses of the feed base takes a long time.

The ministry clarified that currently all data are based on preliminary estimates only, and final conclusions can only be made when the water level stabilizes.

(C)UNIAN 2023