Environmental and Economic Damage to Agriculture as a Result of the Explosion of the Kahovska Hydroelectrical Station

The explosion of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station destroyed 350 pumping stations, the reclamation canals with a total length of more than 1,100 km were left without an irrigation source. The global problem arose due to the impossibility of irrigation in the Kherson region for 2-3 years, which will lead to the fact that the fields in the south of Ukraine will turn into a desert next year. In order to avoid the complete destruction of agriculture and colossal economic losses, it is necessary to study the damage caused in detail and develop ways to overcome it. The purpose of the work was to analyze the damage caused to agriculture after the explosion of the Kakhovka hydroelectric plant and to propose ways of its restoration.

According to preliminary calculations, losses from the death of all biological resources amount to about 10.5 billion hryvnias. The explosion of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station caused a large-scale ecological disaster in the fishing industry: the aquatic biological resources of reservoirs in Kherson region, Dnipropetrovsk region, Mykolaiv region and other regions died without water. Without irrigation, it is impossible to grow corn, soy, oil and melon crops in the south.

To restore agriculture in the territory affected by the man-made disaster, we have proposed several ways, including the use of well technology; grow crops that do not need a lot of moisture - wheat, barley, winter crops, peas; develop a strategy for drip irrigation and drainage, carry out land reclamation and implement at the legislative level the right of water users to unite and jointly manage canals, pipelines, pumping stations that supply water to fields for irrigation.