Occupiers tried to return water to the Kakhovka principal channel

On the left bank of the Kherson region, the occupation authorities tried to return water to the Kakhovka main canal, which is the main source of water for irrigation on the left bank of the Kherson region. The attempts were unsuccessful, the Centre for Investigative Journalism (CIJ) reported citing its sources, according to Most.

In November 2022, Russian shelling damaged the main pumping station of the Kakhovka principal channel, which led to its flooding.

“After the occupiers destroyed the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant and the Kakhovka reservoir, they tried to restore one small pumping unit and pump Dnipro water into the channel bed, which flowed into the headbay. But they failed because the impeller of the pumping unit must be completely submerged in water, and for this to happen, the water level in the Kakhovka reservoir must be the same as before the hydroelectric power station was blown up,” employees of the Main Kakhovka principal channel directorate told the CIJ.

After the destruction of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant, the occupation authorities did not recognise the impact of the destruction on the water supply of the occupied left bank of the region. Later, Vladimir Saldo confirmed that there were problems.

Later, it became known that the occupation authorities of the left bank of the region started to develop a geological exploration map for drilling artesian wells to resume irrigation of agricultural land and create a water supply system without relying on the Kakhovka power plant.

According to the CIJ, to solve the problem with irrigation, the occupiers let farmers loyal to them drill wells, but the water from the wells was not enough to supply large areas of fields.

The Kakhovka principal channel is a 130-kilometre-long artificial canal built in 1979 to irrigate agricultural land and supply water to rural settlements in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions. It originates from the Kakhovka reservoir.

The Kakhovka canal is the starting point for the main canals of the Pryazovia, Sirogozy, Genichesk, Kalanchak and Perekopsk irrigation systems.