The Dniester River has become catastrophically shallow. New islands have appeared on it, herons calmly walk along the middle of the riverbed.
A video of this sad picture was posted on his Facebook by Moldovan social activist Fedor Ghelich, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
Well-known social and political activist in Moldova, Fedor Ghelich, called the current state of the Dniester an “ecological disaster,” which he found more dangerous than the coronavirus pandemic.
“Have you seen this? This is my first time. That's why I stopped to show you. It is already turning into a river - this is not the Dniester! Water flows slightly along the left side. It’s worse than COVID,” says Gelich.
The video was filmed near Dubossary, but commentators reported that the same picture was in other areas.
In Moldova, responsibility for the deterioration of the Dniester state is placed on Ukrainian energy workers, who monopolize the Dniester hydroelectric power station. We are talking about a cascade of hydroelectric power stations that were built in the upper reaches of the river. It is expected that several more turbines will be launched.
The Moldovan government has long been trying to persuade Ukraine to abandon the construction of 6 cascade hydroelectric power stations on the Dniester, but it recently launched a new turbine. This threatens to impede navigation along the Dniester and the disappearance of fish spawning grounds. In addition, more than 20 settlements in Moldova, Romania, Transnistria and parts of Ukraine itself may be left without drinking water.
“The Dniester on the territory of Moldova will turn into a stagnant swamp, and Chisinau and other populated areas may be left without drinking water. The Dniester delta, which is under international protection under the Convention on Wetlands, will also begin to actively die,” said the head of the international association of Dniester guardians Eco-Tiras, Doctor of Biological Sciences Ilya Trombitsky.