Svitlana Boichenko, Doctor of Geographical Sciences, Associate Professor Yevhen Khlobystov, Doctor of Economics, Professor
On Thursday, May 20 at 16:00, experts of the Crimean Tatar Resource Center in an online format presented the results of monitoring of the water resources of Crimea based on satellite imagery for the period from November 2020 to April 2021. According to the organization, there is a reduction in the water surface of almost all water bodies in on average of 33%.
The air of Crimea is one of the main elements of the natural resources of the peninsula. At the same time, it has always been subjected to anthropogenic impact from the point of view of pollution by various pollutants, including those hazardous to human health. Taking into account the temporary occupation of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea by the Russian Federation, it is interesting to understand the state of the pollution process over the next five years after the forceful seizure of the peninsula.
Expert of the Crimean Tatar Resource Center Yevhen Khlobystov said on the air of the UA:Crimea TV channel that the problem with drinking water in Crimea is absolutely not connected with the blocking of the North Crimean canal. This situation is the reason of the policy of the occupation authorities, which redistributes water in favor of the military-industrial complex of the peninsula.
Kovalevsky Institute of Biology of the Southern Seas published a study in which it was reported that the total content of mercury (dissolved and suspended) in the water of Syvash is much higher than in the Black and Azov seas.
On Monday, January 11, at a meeting of the operational headquarters on the problems of water supply in Crimea, the so-called head of the Yalta administration, Yanina Pavlenko, said that they plan to use another well on the peninsula for water production, which will provide an additional 100 cubic meters of water.
In the occupied Crimea, near the Yalta mountain-forest reserve, trees are being cut down for laying a gas pipeline. According to the Zapovedny Krym establishment, the trees are being demolished outside the reserve. The press service of the department reported.
The occupants were forced to stop pumping water from the lake in the Inkerman quarry, since there were no reserves left there. The water intake facilities on the shore of the lake have already been dismantled and removed.
Forecasters from the occupied Crimea noted that due to a long shortage of precipitation in December 2020, most of the mudflow rivers of Alushta, Sudak and Feodosia continue to dry up. This is reported by the so-called Hydrometeorological Center of the annexed peninsula.
In Armyansk and Yañı Qapı of the occupied Crimea, atmospheric air pollution was recorded according to five indicators. This wass reported by the so-called Hydrometeorological Center of the annexed peninsula.
The Crimean Tatar Resource Center prepared and sent to the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and the Environment, Dr. David Boyd, a report on The impact of the irrational policy of the occupation power of the Russian Federation on the water balance of Crimea.
On Friday, November 13, the Crimean Tatar Resource Center with the support of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom in Ukraine held the 16th session of the Crimean Discussion Club on the topic Legal Environment of the Occupied Crimea. As part of the event, experts systematized and outlined the scale of the legal mechanisms of the occupation power of Crimea in the field of human rights, and also discussed the international obligations of the Russian Federation regarding the peninsula in the legal sphere. Based on the discussion, the Crimean Tatar Resource Center will develop appropriate recommendations for the Ukrainian authorities.
On Friday, November 20, employees and experts of the Crimean Tatar Resource Center presented the results of monitoring the water resources of the occupied Crimea according to satellite communications. According to the study, the peninsula is experiencing a reduction in the area of the water surface for virtually all large bodies of water. The average reduction in the area of the water surface from 2015 to 2020 is 32%: reservoirs - 43%, lakes - 25%.
Environmental air monitoring studies were carried out near the administrative border with the occupied Crimea, in Chaplynka and Kalanchak districts. According to the results, an excess of both the maximum one-time and the average daily maximum permissible concentration of a number of substances was found. This is reported by the Main Directorate of the State Service of Ukraine for Food Safety and Consumer Protection in the Kherson region.
In an interview with Krym Realii, Eskender Bariiev, Сhairman of the Board of the Crimean Tatar Resource Center (CTRC) and member of Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people, stated that the challenges of the militarization of Crimea by Russia are dangerous both for the indigenous peoples of Crimea and for various natural systems of the region. Bariiev noted that the CTRC continues to pay close attention to this problem.
In the areas of the Yalta Bay and the Kerch Strait of the occupied Crimea, sea pollution was recorded. On the coast of the peninsula, the excess of MPC for oil products and organochlorine pesticides was found. This is reported by the so-called "Hydrometeorological Center" of the annexed peninsula.
In the village of Zelenohirske in the Bilohirsk District, the main source of water supply has completely dried up, and there are no other sources there. This was announced by Maxim Novik, director of the Simferopol branch of the Water of Crimea enterprise, at a meeting of the operational headquarters on water supply problems.
The Ukrainian independent maritime trade union sent to the UN and other international organizations and bodies a statement “Environmental and Humanitarian Challenges in the Maritime Areas around Crimea”, which emphasizes that all negative environmental factors are caused by military-economic activities in Crimea. The press service of the department reported about this.
The so-called Head of the Department of water supply, sewerage and sanitary engineering of the Vernadsky Crimean Federal University, Illia Nikolenko said that desalination of water in the occupied Crimea could lead to an environmental disaster, since the technology includes a large amount of saline waste that has not yet been figured out how to dispose of. This was reported by the RIA News Crimea media agency.
