The project to transfer water from the Crimean Kokkozka River to the Chernorechenskoe reservoir in the Bakhchisarai region, which is included in the water supply plan for Sevastopol, can lead to the death of rare animals listed in the Red Book of Crimea. This is stated in a letter from the director of the Office of Specially Protected Natural Areas, Yuri Trufanov, and the head of the department for analysis and monitoring of biodiversity in the Republic of Crimea, Grigory Prokopov, the New Crimea newspaper reports.
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Thus, the project plans to build a dam in the Bakhchisarai region, which will increase the volume of the reservoir to 13 million cubic meters. The height of the dam should be 75 meters, and as a result of its construction, the lower part of the state reserve “Grand Canyon of Crimea” and the entire valley of the Kokkozka River will be flooded. According to environmentalists, this territory is home to 12 species of animals listed in the Red Book, which will become extinct during the implementation of the project.
“During the construction of a reservoir and water intake, the living conditions of all species of animals living in the river will change. These changes will occur in two stages. The first is during the construction of a dam. In this case, roads will be built, trees will be cut down, a large amount of soil and construction waste will fall into the river, and the section of the river bed below the dam will be temporarily drained. At the second stage - the functioning of the reservoir - irreversible changes in the river ecosystem will occur. The microclimate, hydrological and hydrochemical regimes will change. All this will lead to the disappearance of a whole complex of species, in particular, up to 80% of endemic and 70% of Red Book species,” the ecologists’ letter says.