Water will soon stop flowing to Crimea after Kakhovka dam collapse – UK intelligence

Water will soon stop flowing to Crimea through the North Crimean Canal due to the destruction of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant by Russian forces.

According to Ukrinform, the UK Ministry of Defense said this in a new intelligence update published on Twitter.

"The collapse of the Kakhovka Dam on 6 June 2023 has almost certainly severely disrupted the occupied Crimean Peninsula's primary source of fresh water, the North Crimean Canal (NCC). The NCC draws water from the Kakhovka Reservoir, from an inlet higher than the bed of the reservoir. The water level in the reservoir had likely dropped below the level of the inlet by 9 June 2023 and water will soon stop flowing to Crimea," the ministry said.

According to British intelligence, this will reduce the availability of fresh water in southern Kherson region and northern Crimea.

"However, the Russian authorities will likely meet the immediate water requirements of the population using reservoirs, water rationing, drilling new wells, and delivering bottled water from Russia," the ministry added.

It noted that concurrently, communities on both the Russian and Ukrainian-controlled sides of the flooded Dnipro are facing a sanitation crisis with limited access to safe water, and an increased risk of water-borne diseases.