Seawater is being pumped into the Kuyalnik estuary

The Kuyalnytskyi National Nature Park has started the 10th annual launch of seawater into the estuary.

According to the press service of the National Park, this is an important ecological process that has been helping to sustain life in this unique natural area for 10 years in a row.

It prevents critical shallowing and preserves the natural balance of the estuary, which is one of the most valuable medical reservoirs in Ukraine.

The water is supplied through special hydraulic structures - pipes and canals - through which sea water is directed towards the estuary. This allows us to:

• Maintain the water level. Without regular replenishment with seawater, the estuary could dry up completely.
• Maintain the ecosystem. Water provides living conditions for microorganisms that form therapeutic mud.
• Preserve the natural area - rare species of plants and birds.
• To support therapeutic resources. Kuyalnytsia mud is a natural resource of international importance.

At the end of August this year, a petition to the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine to save the Kuyalnyk Estuary was posted on the government portal. The authors of the petition drew attention to the critical condition of the estuary and the fact that it is drying up catastrophically fast.

According to Vladyslav Balinsky, the head of the Green Sheet organization, the drying up of the estuary is affected by the devastation of the poems of the rivers that feed it, illegal sand mining, and illegal dams on such rivers.

In 2022, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed decrees establishing the Radziwill Forest, Kuyalnytskyy, and Kholodnyi Yar national nature parks. The decree establishes the Kuyalnytskyi National Nature Park in the Berezivskyi and Odesa districts of Odesa Oblast.

"Kuyalnytskyi became the third national nature park in Odesa region, along with Tuzly Estuaries and Lower Dniester Estuaries. In total, there are more than 100 natural complexes and objects of special environmental, scientific, aesthetic, recreational and other value in Odesa region.

In December 2019, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted the draft law "On Declaring the Natural Territories of the Kuyalnyk Estuary of Odesa Region a Resort of National Importance".

Кирило Бойко