Everything carried by water into Black Sea due to Kakhovka HPP explosion will turn it into organic mess - ecologist

He expressed his opinion on Espreso TV. 

The ecologist commented on possible changes in the ecosystem after the Kakhovka HPP dam was blown up.

“What will happen below the dam is a high water shaft, flooding, and inundation. There is already information about the damage to the Nyzhniodniprovskyi National Nature Park, where bird colonies were washed away. There is also a danger for animals, especially small ones, but to be honest, they will all die in the flood zone. Only large animals will be able to escape, and not all of them. In addition, there are rare animalst, a large percentage of which could disappear,” said the expert of the ANTS.

Oleh Lystopad added that the mirror area of the Kakhovka reservoir is about 2000 square kilometers, and when such a huge reservoir disappears, it leads to an environmental disaster. Although nature is very flexible, it takes time to adapt. And sudden changes have catastrophic consequences.

"With such drastic changes, a significant number of fish and other aquatic organisms will die. Part of the freshwater fish will be transported to the salty Black Sea, and, accordingly, the fish will also die there. A lot of organic materials will be carried into the Black Sea, which will lead to undesirable consequences, as animal corpses, dead fish, and all the garbage from septic tanks and toilets will end up in the sea. And a lot of organic material is food for microscopic algae, which will begin to multiply actively and consume a lot of oxygen, leading to fouling, turning the Black Sea into an organic mess. Relatively speaking, it will not be possible to go and swim in the sea. Now it is not known when the holiday season will take place, because such water cannot be used for anything. It's hard to say what will happen to dolphins and other marine life or plants, but I predict nothing good. Further research will show how severe the impact is, because it is difficult to understand how ecosystems will react,” Lystopad summarized.

• On June 6, occupying Russian forces blew up the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant.

• Acting Director General of the Forests of Ukraine State Enterprise Yuriy Bolokhovets reported that 55,000 hectares of forest were threatened with flooding as a result of the explosion of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant.

• On June 7, the Ministry of Health reported a massive fish pestilence in the Dnipropetrovsk region and urged people not to collect or eat dead fish, or buy them at spontaneous markets.

• On June 8, the Ministry of Agrarian Policy said that Ukraine could lose several million tons of crops due to the Russians' explosion of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant.

• Two water utilities in the Nikopol region were shut down due to the shallowing of the Kakhovka reservoir.

• Water from the Kakhovka reservoir cut off the Kinburn Spit from the mainland.