In Crimea, despite precipitation, reservoirs continue to dry up

The volume of water accumulated in the reservoirs of Crimea is 141 million cubic meters, and in August these reserves decreased by 17 million cubic meters.

This was reported by the Russian media with reference to the words of Professor Ilya Nikolenko, Head of the Department of Water Supply, Sewerage and Sanitary Engineering of the Institute "Academy of Civil Engineering and Architecture of the Vernadsky University".

"We have repeatedly said that we are moving from a period of high water to a period when inflows will be much lower. We need to prepare for this," the expert said.

Nikolenko explained that as of now, scientists are recording small inflows in the Simferopol, Ayan and Partizan reservoirs compared to other periods.

"In fact, our water intake exceeds the amount of inflows that enter the reservoirs. However, in a sense, this is normal. This corresponds to the natural cyclical nature of precipitation," the scientist added.

Such indicators suggest that Crimea will experience a dry period in the next three years.

Earlier, Professor, member of the expert council of the Crimean Tatar Resource Center for Environmental Protection and Sustainable Development of Crimea, coordinator of the Ecology and Economics working group of the YES,Yevhen Khlobystov, said that a water crisis could occur in the temporarily occupied Crimea in the fall if there is no certain amount of precipitation. According to him, the occupation authorities of the peninsula also add to the problems with water supply in Crimea, as they unfairly distribute the available water, supplying it first to the territories where the Russian military is stationed, as well as to the resorts of Yalta, Yevpatoria, and Feodosia.

Also, after the Russians blew up the dam of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant, water stopped flowing into the North Crimean Canal. For more than half a century, the Kakhovka Reservoir in the Kherson region had been supplying Crimea with Dnipro water. Water was taken from it into the North Crimean Canal using engineering structures built there shortly after the Kakhovka HPP.

In addition, rivers and reservoirs in Crimea have been rapidly shallowing since the beginning of summer. Last weekend's rains did not affect the situation with the growing water shortage in the annexed Crimea. The island that appeared on the Taigan reservoir will soon turn into a spit.