Ukraine is currently experiencing double pressure: water is becoming scarcer and its quality is deteriorating, according to Minister of Economy, Environment, and Agriculture Oleksiy Sobolev.
“Industry, the agricultural sector, and community development depend on access to water, so effective management of its quantity must be one of the key instruments of state policy. It is important for businesses to understand where water is available in order to plan the location of production facilities and reduce the risk of shortages,” he said in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine.
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%, others – 3.2%. Sobolev noted that in recent years, water consumption by industry has decreased by 1.9 times, housing and communal services – by 1.5 times, and irrigation has fallen more than ten times – as a result of the Russian Federation’s armed aggression against Ukraine, in particular the destruction of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station, 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 now been updated. Also, over the past year, large-scale digitization has been carried out: more than 80,000 water objects have been digitized, including 60,000 reservoirs and 19,000 rivers.
