At the beginning of the war, the Russians destroyed a small dam blocking water flows to Crimea. Researchers have documented more than 50 such attacks on dams, water supply systems, city water treatment plants, pipelines, and other facilities. Water and water systems have been the targets of attacks from the beginning of this war. Loss of cooling could precipitate a catastrophic meltdown. International Atomic Energy Agency experts say the nuclear plant, at present, has backup cooling water in ponds by the reactors, but they are continuing to monitor the situation closely. Read More: Ukraine Wants Russia to Pay for the War’s Environmental Impact The reservoir behind the dam also supplies critical cooling water to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, and feeds water into the North Crimea Canal, delivering nearly 80% of Crimea’s water. That’s around four times the volume of California’s largest reservoir, the Shasta reservoir, and about half the volume of Lake Mead, the largest reservoir in the United States. ![]() When full-and it was full when it was destroyed-the reservoir contains 18 cubic kilometers (nearly 5 trillion gallons) of water. Kakhovka Dam, one of the largest in Europe, was built in the late 1950s to provide hydroelectric power, irrigation water, and improved navigation on the Dnieper River which flows from Russia through Belarus and Ukraine before emptying into the Black Sea. But for the very reason that water is so critical to our economies and public health, international law now explicitly prohibits attacking civilian water infrastructure. This includes conflicts over access and control of water, attacks on water systems, and the use of water as a weapon. World leaders are also calling it a war crime.īecause of the central role that water plays in daily life and in our economies, there is a long history of violence associated with water resources, going back 4,500 years. It risks massive human and ecological consequences to communities downstream being hit by vast floodwaters, and also threatens a potentially catastrophic nuclear accident. The destruction in the early hours of June 6 of Ukraine’s massive Nova Kakhovka dam on the Dnieper River is a dangerous escalation of the war between Ukraine and Russia. Credit - Svitlana Horieva/Anadolu Agency-Getty Images ![]() ![]() A view of floodwaters caused after explosions at the Kakhovka hydropower plant in Kherson, Ukraine on June 6, 2023.Ī view of floodwaters caused after explosions at the Kakhovka hydropower plant in Kherson, Ukraine on June 6, 2023.
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