report
The disaster at the Kakhovka reservoir also affected Kryvyi Rih, 60 kilometers away. 70 percent of the water supply there depended on the reservoir. There is currently no water flowing from the tap in parts of the city.
Swetlana stands in the middle of a high-rise settlement and turns on a faucet that is connected to a tap with a hose. Then she fills her two buckets to the brim with water.
“I’ll fill up the bathtub right away,” she says. “Then I have water to flush the toilet or to wash dishes. After all, I live alone, my children have their own house. To do the laundry, I have to go to them.”
Drinking water is a precious commodity
Svetlana lives in Kryvyi Rih, in southeastern Ukraine, and currently has no running water. Since the destruction of the dam on the Kachowka reservoir, there have been water bottlenecks in parts of the city of 600,000 – especially in higher-lying apartments, as the taps there remain dry due to reduced water pressure.
After Svetlana, it’s Mykola’s turn at the tap. “We live on the ninth floor,” she says. “We don’t have water, that’s a problem, because we have to wash and wash the dishes. And there are four of us. I have to get at least six buckets for that now.”
Drinking water is also a precious commodity in the increasingly hot early summer. Resident Swetlana has had enough of this at the moment: “I’ve been buying drinking water in the pet shop around the corner for a long time. There are still enough supplies there and it’s cheap. I don’t spend a lot of money for six liters.”
constant demand
In a room at a school in Kryvyi Rih, Anastasija tears open six packs of mineral water and sorts the bottles according to quantity. She counts 80 liters. Anastasija is part of a volunteer group that distributes drinking water to local residents.
There is constant demand, says the young woman: “Sometimes more than 30 people come a day, sometimes fewer. It depends on the day of the week. Demand is often even higher at weekends.”
Call to save water
Aid measures like these could be too little. In Kryvyi Rih the population is called upon to save water. Helper Anastasija is annoyed that not everyone is sticking to it.
The more water we save today, the more is left for tomorrow. We can manage without internet or even electricity. We simply cannot survive without water. Unfortunately, not everyone in the city has internalized that we have to save water in the current situation.
There is concern that two-thirds of Kryvyi Rih could be without water supply by the end of the summer. According to Yevhen Sytnychenko, head of the city’s military administration, the situation is under control. For the minimum supply, the city can fall back on another reservoir.
According to Sytnychenko, the current bottlenecks should be resolved in about two months: “We already had emergency plans, which we are now implementing,” he says. “There are other sources in the region, such as the Inhulez River. Work has been going on for more than a week to develop them technically.”
Ecologists are sounding the alarm
Ecologist Anna Ambrasova is less optimistic. Kryvyi Rih has been suffering from water shortages in the summer for years due to high demand from industry, for example. She considers the plans to develop new sources to be late and not well thought out: “A large part of the Inhulez flows through the industrial area. It has a high concentration of chemical substances. In order to use the water there more efficiently, we have to improve the treatment – but that takes time and costs a lot of money.”
In addition, according to the ecologist, the Inhulez alone cannot serve as an alternative anyway because its water volume is severely limited. A comprehensive investigation is needed as to where in the region new sources can be safely tapped.
Consequences also felt in the surrounding areas
The consequences of the disaster at the Kachowka reservoir are also being felt in the surrounding area, as reported by Dmytro Nevesyoly. In his community, according to the mayor of Zelenodolsk, south-east of Kryvyi Rih, the water supply has been secured for six months. But Zelenodolsk also has to develop new sources. Other villages fare much worse, says Nevesyoly.
A neighboring town lived up to 90 percent from agriculture. Peaches, sweetcorn and cabbage were grown there. Now there is not enough irrigation for the fields. People are losing their livelihoods – and food prices are rising.
Svetlana grabs her two buckets of water at the tap in the high-rise settlement in Kryvyi Rih and goes home. She hopes she doesn’t have to come here for too long: “They promise us that everything will be fine in two months. We’ll see. A few days in this condition is not a problem – let’s see what I say in a month .”
Those affected remain confident
Mykola takes the situation soberly. In view of the experiences of the past 16 months, carrying water cannot shake him: “We will survive. What are you supposed to do? The main thing is that there are no rockets flying.”
Anastasija, who volunteers to distribute drinking water to needy residents, is confident that the supply situation in Kryvyi Rih will not get out of control. She encourages that even in the new crisis situation, solidarity is great overall.
“We try not to think of the worst case scenario,” she says. “Drinking water is readily available in shops. That should be enough for the time to come. And we’re noticing how we’re moving closer together in the city – people support each other with deeds or just friendly words.”