Dam destroyed in Ukraine: “We will suffer the consequences for decades”

For farmers in southern Ukraine, water has always been the sinews of war. The hot and arid climate, with temperatures sometimes rising to 45°C, made tourists happy on the blue coast of the Black Sea. But a little less farmers who grew cereals, oilseeds or fruits and vegetables there, including the famous Kherson watermelons.

Paradoxically, after the destruction of the Kakhovka dam, the floods will make hundreds of thousands of hectares uncultivable. “In the next five years, my land will be a desert,” laments Serhiy Rybalko. The occupation of the left bank of the Dnieper by the Russians had already forced this farmer to flee, abandoning thousands of hectares and his house. He may also have to give up his land on the right bank – liberated by the Ukrainian army in November – where he had taken refuge. The reason ? Nearly 94% of the region’s irrigation system, built in the 1960s, is now unusable. “We Ukrainians will suffer the consequences for decades: only the Russians could have done this, to destroy us,” he protested by telephone.

Agriculture in peril

The destruction of the Nova-Kakhovka dam caused entire villages to disappear under water, causing the evacuation of tens of thousands of people. But the repercussions of this ecological and economic tragedy extend throughout southern Ukraine, a region the size of Belgium stretching from Dnipro to the Black Sea, and where activity is closely dependent on the river.

Upstream, the Kakhovka Reservoir had the largest concentration of freshwater fish in Ukraine, including species crucial to the food industry. It will take seven to ten years to renew the stocks: almost 100,000 tonnes of asphyxiated fish for an estimated value of 100 million euros. But it is above all the implications for agriculture that are of concern. “Without irrigation, the yield drops considerably, so those who come back and want to start farming will probably have to increase the number of seedlings in the hope that it will grow,” analyzes Denys Martchouk, vice-president of the All-Ukrainian Agrarian Council. He predicts that on the few remaining fertile lands, farmers will only be able to plant water-efficient crops.

In the regions of Dnipropetrovsk, Kherson and Zaporizhia, the systems drawing their sources from the Dnieper and destroyed after the explosion irrigated nearly 584,000 hectares of land, including those of Serhiy. By 2021, those fields had yielded 4 million tonnes of grains and oilseeds worth $1.5 billion, according to the Department of Agriculture. “These regions play a central role in the production of vegetables and fruits for the domestic market. Lost harvests will increase the price of food in Ukraine,” predicts the Center for Economic Strategy, a Ukrainian think tank.

Fields could turn into desert and deserts into the sea. Part of the sands of Oleshky, one of the rare deserts in Europe, located on the left bank, have indeed been submerged. The Kinburn Peninsula, which was the delight of wild campers before the war, is also in danger of disappearing. In these steppes battered by the winds, wedged between the Black Sea and the Dnieper, nearly a dozen natural parks, including one registered with Unesco, will be permanently upset.

Serious health risks for residents

“Nothing will ever be the same,” Ania said desperately over the phone from Dnipro, where she fled the occupation in the spring of last year. His little house is in the 10% of the village that has not been flooded. Her plot of land, where her husband grew tomatoes and cucumbers, is now under water. “In the region, we live in harmony with nature, it’s part of our identity and now all that is dying,” sighs this fifty-year-old.

The water could withdraw in part or in full in the coming days, but the authorities are warning about the health risks. Drowned human and animal corpses, sewage systems and chemicals of all kinds – at least 150 tons of gasoline were spilled, authorities say – can contaminate the water system and wells used for city water in Kherson. The sea mines laid on the river during the hostilities will also float with the currents and be deposited anywhere.

Beyond the immediate problems, for the Ukrainians, it will be necessary to reorganize the entire water system of the region. The authorities are striving to avoid shortages of drinking water and are trying to set up the necessary infrastructure. kyiv has just released 38 million euros for the construction of new water pipes in Kryvyï Rih, Nikopol and Marhanets; and 21.4 million euros for the supply of drinking water.

Downstream of the Kakhovka reservoir, the Zaporijjia nuclear power plant, occupied by the Russians, depends on water from the Dnieper for cooling its reactors, even if they are shut down. “In the short term, there is no risk of an accident for the plant because it has emergency systems, explains Olga Kosharna, director of the association of experts and professionals, Ukrainian Nuclear Forum. But for relaunch the activity of the plant, in the longer term, it will be necessary to find a sustainable alternative source of cooling water.

In Mykolaiv, in the south of Ukraine, while she has her feet in the water with the rise of the Bug, a tributary of the Dnieper, Tetiana does not hide her concern about the state of this plant. “It reminds me of Chernobyl,” the 67-year-old resident shudders. After the nuclear accident in 1986, she had to leave her house near kyiv for Mykolaiv, her daughter having fallen ill from radiation. “And now, if that happens, where will we go?”