Ecologists say that due to the explosion of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant, the bottom of the Kakhovka reservoir will be exposed, and the silt on it is dangerous.
Expert of the international association of ecologists “Working Group to study the environmental consequences of the war in Ukraine” Yevhen Symonov said that unneutralized silt would become dust and be carried by the winds, and Ihor Shkradiuk, coordinator of the program for greening the industry of the Biodiversity Conservation Center , noted that industrial discharges fell into the reservoir for decades without treatment, containing, in particular, heavy metals. In the worst case, dust with heavy metals and persistent organic pollutants will fall on the surrounding fields.
According to experts, the Lower Dnieper National Park and parts of the Black Sea Biosphere Reserve will be flooded for the longest time.
“How much it will harm them, one can only guess, because they have not been flooded for a long time, there is a large amount of flora and fauna that is completely unsuitable for flooding”,- Simonov said.
Ecoaction notes that the sharp decline in the water level in the Kakhovka reservoir threatens aquatic and coastal ecosystems.
The flooding of settlements means that a large amount of pollutants enter the Black Sea.