Maidan authorities flogged themselves: Cutting off water to Crimea will damage the environment and the budget of Ukraine
Kherson - Nikolaev, May 14 (Navigator, Yuriy Kovalchuk) - On Tuesday, the State Water Agency of Ukraine nevertheless admitted that water supplies through the North Crimean Canal (NCC) had been stopped. All this time, the Water Resources Agency denied that the water supply had been stopped. Currently, water flows only to the Kherson region; unclaimed Dnieper water from the Kakhovka reservoir is drained into the Black Sea.
By stopping the water supply to Crimea, the Ukrainian authorities not only lose income, but also cause significant damage to the environment, and in the future they may lose the remaining part of the North Crimean Canal, writes journalist Yuri Kovalchuk in his column for Navigator.
Subscribe to the news “Navigator - Kiev” в Facebook or In contact with
Kherson ecologist, senior researcher at the Museum of Local Lore Mikhail Podgainy argues that the discharge of a significant amount of fresh water into the Black Sea can lead to an environmental disaster. In his opinion, the Ukrainian authorities should have conducted a thorough analysis of possible risks before desalinating the coastal zone.
“Fresh water cannot be discharged into the Black Sea under any circumstances. No force majeure should play a role here, because as a result of such activities an environmental crisis may arise. In the coastal zone, certain species that have become accustomed to the microclimate that has developed over the decades of the canal’s existence may die. In general, it is quite difficult to predict the consequences - serious research is needed here, but they will definitely be negative,” says the scientist.
It should be noted that approximately 1/7 of the canal is located in the Kherson region. The use of such a small part of it can lead to the fact that the infrastructure of the structure becomes unclaimed and begins to collapse.
As an employee of the North Crimean Canal Department told Navigator, in the Kherson region the water in the canal moves by gravity. That is, the expensive equipment of the canal headworks, as well as intermediate pumping stations, becomes unclaimed. The main components have long expired their service life - if they are stopped for a long time, it is unknown whether they will be able to be started again. Together with the equipment, there will be no need for dozens of specialists who are unlikely to find work in a similar profile in Ukraine.
“The financial receipts from the farmers of the Kherson region are negligible in comparison with the millions of hryvnias that Crimea paid. The enterprise will not only have no funds for staffing and maintaining the technical aspect of the canal’s functioning; it will become much more difficult to maintain the riverbed in normal condition. When water flows into the canal exclusively by gravity, the flow will disappear, and the canal will gradually turn into a swamp and then collapse,” says the interlocutor.
The authorities’ decision to stop water supplies to Crimea, as well as prolonged attempts to hide this fact, causes bewilderment and indignation among many in the Kherson region.
“The question of whether water would be supplied to Crimea was decided until March 19, when the ceremonial launch was supposed to take place. Usually on this day, representatives of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, regional and city leadership, and officials of the Water Resources Agency came. Most likely, the decision that water would be released only through the territory of the Kherson region was made in Kiev just a few hours before the event, because already on the 19th they suddenly called from the press service of the Regional State Administration and canceled everything,” says journalist Alexandra Arnautova .
“After this, the regional authorities and Governor Odarchenko at first flatly refused to admit that water was not flowing into Crimea, then talk began that Russia had closed the floodgates on the border with the peninsula. As a result, Yuri Odarchenko finally came to the final version and stated that Crimea is a debtor, and there are no specialists there capable of servicing the channel. All this is so absurd and hypocritical that one can only be happy for the Crimeans who escaped from this mess. This fact alone clearly shows how much the Ukrainian authorities care about their people - either you meekly endure everything, or you should be “shot with atomic weapons,” your agriculture should be destroyed, or you should be crushed with tanks,” says the journalist.
Deputy of the Novokakhovsky City Council, on whose territory the headworks and management of the North Crimean Canal are located, Vasily Podrez assesses the behavior of the Ukrainian government as inconsistent. “I don’t understand why emotions prevent Ukraine from making money. They would sell water to Crimea and receive money, but a strange situation arises - what they call a dog in the manger. Our politicians in Kyiv don’t seem to understand that such behavior undermines trust in the country - who would invest money in the economy of an unpredictable state whose government is capable of anything.”
The owner of the Tavria agricultural enterprise, Ruslan Sheremet, who previously actively traded with the northern part of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, believes that the debt attributed to Crimea is 1,7 million UAH. is only a formal pretext to take revenge on the peninsula for its pro-Russian position.
“Crimean farmers would pay not just 1,7, but all 17 million, just to save their crops, orchards, and vineyards. Can you imagine the damage suffered by the peninsula's agriculture? Therefore, it seems to me that the Ukrainian side is simply lying.
This is, of course, barbarism - our fathers and grandfathers gave so much effort to cultivate these lands, invested so much effort in the land reclamation system... How can you destroy the work of entire generations for the sake of banal revenge,” Sheremet is perplexed.
If you find an error, please select a piece of text and press Ctrl + Enter.
Thank you!
Now the editors are aware.