Ukraine is getting less water and its quality is deteriorating – Ministry of Economy
4 January 17:08
Ukraine is facing a double pressure today: there is less water and its quality is deteriorating,” said Oleksiy Sobolev, Minister of Economy, Environment and Agriculture.
“Industry, the agricultural sector and community development depend on access to water, so effective management of its quantity should be one of the key instruments of state policy. It is important for business to understand where there is access to water in order to plan the location of production and reduce the risks of shortages,” he said in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports.
According to the head of the Ministry of Economy, 4,074 million cubic meters of water are taken from surface sources, which is half as much as in previous periods. The structure of use is as follows: industry – 70.5%, housing and communal needs – 22.1%, irrigation – 4.2%, other – 3.2%. Sobolev noted that in recent years, water consumption by industry has decreased by 1.9 times, by housing and utilities by 1.5 times, and irrigation has dropped more than tenfold as a result of Russia’s armed aggression against Ukraine, in particular the destruction of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant, which provided water supply and irrigation in the south.
“The goal of our changes is to build a system where every cubic meter of water is accounted for and decisions are made based on real data, not assumptions, as the basis for a modern, transparent and balanced water policy,” the Minister said.
He noted that the state water cadastre for surface water accounting has been updated. Last year, large-scale digitalization was also carried out: more than 80,000 water bodies were digitized, including 60,000 reservoirs and 19,000 rivers.
