The Devastating Repercussions of the Kakhovka Dam Disaster: Threats to Biodiversity, Food, and Water Supply in Ukraine

In addition to the dangers left by the disaster on the supply of energy, food and water in the affected areas, in addition to the spread of mines, especially floating ones, and diseases due to the extensive damage to the flooded areas, including many populated areas.

Biodiversity is in danger

According to experts, one of the most serious aspects of the disaster is the damage to biodiversity, threatening more devastating effects, especially for the river environment and its fish wealth in the Dnipro, most notably the death of huge numbers of fish as a result of the collapse of the dam, amid warnings by the Ukrainian health authorities against fishing and consumption of fish by residents. Flooded areas such as Mykolaiv, Kherson and Zaporizhia, for fear of acute food poisoning.

Experts warned that various aquatic organisms are in danger, including molluscs, shellfish and plants, and that the negative repercussions of the disaster will affect the biodiversity of the region as a whole.

Hydro expert explains

The geological and water expert, Dr. Ramadan Hamza, said in an interview with Sky News Arabia:

• As a result of the collapse of the dam, the flood waters washed the fish out of the dam basin, which means that what happened from the disaster is tantamount to “environmental annihilation” described.
• When a dam collapse occurs and water flows from the dam reservoirs, an outflow of solids and organic matter carried in the water may occur. If there is heavy coral growth in the affected area, the broken coral may turn over and float above the surface with the water currents.
• Because the presence of large amounts of coral floating on the surface can lead to the formation of a dense layer of organic matter on the surface, and when this material begins to decompose, it consumes oxygen dissolved in the water, and this excess consumption of oxygen can lead to a severe decrease in the percentage of oxygen available in water, which leads to the death of fish and many organisms in the dam’s reservoir. This is because the low percentage of oxygen in the water negatively affects living organisms in the water, including fish. If the percentage of oxygen drops to very low levels, the fish may find it difficult to breathe and may suffer from suffocation and die.

• The most likely reason for the death of all these huge numbers of fish is the severe lack of oxygen and their suffocation, which necessitates conducting field inspections and taking water samples in order to determine the causes of the death of these fish accurately.
• The warning against consuming fish is due to the fact that the aquatic environment in which they live now is polluted and threatens to spread diseases and epidemics, and that toxic chemicals may have leaked into the water as a result of flooding and chaos, and therefore eating them may involve health risks that may reach the point of causing death.
• The repercussions of dam failure and its impact on the aquatic environment is a serious problem, so it is necessary to take measures to reduce this negative impact, including developing plans to deal with possible dam failure, and providing support for aquatic life.
• Unfortunately, the consequences of the tragedy will become clearer within about a week of the date of the dam’s collapse, when the water will disappear, and what will remain and what will happen next will appear.

Kakhovka Dam

• The dam is located on the Dnipro River, next to the Kakhovka hydroelectric station, and holds 18 million cubic meters of water.
• It is 30 meters high and 3.2 kilometers long. It was completed in 1956.
• The dam behind it formed a lake almost the same size as the Great Salt Lake in the US state of Utah, and it also supplies water to Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014.