Consequences of Sabotage of the Kakhovka Dam on the Waters of the Dnipro-Buh Estuary and the Black Sea

Abstract

Sabotage of the Kakhovka dam on the Dnipro River eliminated one third of Ukraine’s fresh water reserves, clean drinking water for 6 million people and domestic supply for more than 13 million. Opinions differ on whether and how to replace it. Fieldwork is constrained by fighting along the course of the lower Dnipro but we have used remote sensing to examine the natural-climatic transformation of the reservoir and dependent areas, which experienced an almost immediate increase of 2.0°С in the land surface temperature, two-fold acceleration of evapotranspiration, and exacerbation of water scarcity.