The Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine, according to preliminary estimates, predicts the flooding of approximately 10 thousand hectares of agricultural land on the right bank of the Kherson region as a result of a terrorist act by Russians at the Kakhovka hydroelectric station.
And also several times more on the left bank of the region, which is now under occupation. Detailed information will be known in the coming days, after analyzing information and pictures about the size of the flood.
In addition, a man-made disaster will stop the water supply of 31 irrigation systems of the fields of Dnipropetrovsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhya regions.
In 2021, these systems provided irrigation for 584 thousand hectares of which we collected about 4 million tons of grain and oilseeds, worth about $1.5 billion.
In 2023, only 13 irrigation systems operate on the right bank of the Dnieper. The terrorist act at the Kakhovka hydroelectric station actually left 94 percent of irrigation systems in Kherson without a water source, 74 percent in Zaporizhzhya and 30 percent in Dnipropetrovsk regions. The destruction of the Kakhovka hydroelectric station will lead to the fact that the fields in the south of Ukraine next year can turn into deserts. Without the Kakhovka reservoir, not only farmers and water users will suffer, but also sources of drinking water supply for settlements.
The negative consequences of the destruction of the Kakhovka hydroelectric station will also be for fisheries. Already recorded the death of fish, both young and adults. The spawning period has just ended and as a result of the fall in the water level, caviar will dry up in the shallowed areas.
In addition, the fauna of the reservoir carried out with the flow of water in the floodplains formed below the dam of the Kakhovka hydroelectric station will also die. Since in the future, when the "flood" wave decreases, these bioresources will be on land.
Another problem will be the ingress and death of freshwater fish and other biological resources in the salt waters of the Black Sea. In turn, the Black Sea fauna from a massive influx of fresh water can also die.
As a result of the destruction of the Kakhovka hydroelectric station, losses for the fishing industry from the death of only adults can reach 95 thousand tons or about 4 billion UAH. In total, according to preliminary calculations, the damage from the death of all biological resources will amount to 10.5 billion UAH.
The negative consequences of the devastation of aquatic biological resources will be traced for several years in a row, even when filling the bed of the Kakhovka reservoir in the near future. Since the restoration of the quantitative and qualitative composition of fish populations, the restoration of bottom coenoses of the feed base takes a long time.
We emphasize that all data are given only according to preliminary estimates. Final conclusions can be drawn only when the water level stabilizes.