Crimean agriculture faces difficult times - scientist
Even with minimal precipitation in Crimea, the local population will not be left without water, but agricultural crops will suffer.
President of the Crimean Academy of Sciences Viktor Tarasenko spoke about this in an interview with Moskovsky Komsomolets.
He does not support the optimism of the head of the Hydrometeorological Center, Tatyana Lyubetskaya, who claims that rains will soon fall on Crimea, which will solve the problem of water shortage.
“According to official data, the reservoirs of Crimea are filled by about 30%, and according to semi-official estimates, there will definitely only be enough water for a month. Next we will have to introduce a strict economy regime. The fact is that the reservoirs are full, but most of them are 30% clogged with silt. They were never cleaned,” Tarasenko said.
He also added that the rains that officials are hoping for may not come, and therefore the possibility of creating strategic reserves, in particular, carrying out desalination of water, should be considered. At the same time, it was said that Crimean scientists successfully conducted relevant experiments in laboratory conditions, but there are no installations on the peninsula that could desalinate water on an industrial scale.
“In addition, with the help of wastewater treatment, the problem of irrigation of agricultural land can be solved. Simferopol alone can provide 40 million cubic meters of dirty water. There are technologies for its purification; Crimea is working in this direction with Tyumen, Moscow and other Russian cities, but even here it’s time to move from the laboratory to an industrial basis. Literally on February 5, I met with Deputy Prime Minister of Crimea Andrei Ryumshin. He agreed that it was necessary to repair and restore what was left of the North Crimean Canal,” says MK’s interlocutor.
He also emphasized that water shortages have resulted in serious problems for Crimean agriculture.
“Agriculture is very dependent on water. There were 430 thousand hectares of cultivated land, and today only 17-20 thousand hectares remain. You can saturate them with the help of desalinated and purified water. In general, the problem is serious...
Thanks to natural cyclicality, the last 5–6 years have been generous with precipitation. But now there will be fewer of them - instead of 400 millimeters, perhaps there will be 250, if you look at the average for the peninsula. True, even with the bare minimum of precipitation, the population will not be left without water. There are enough reserves for people. But in agriculture, we need to focus on those crops that are drought-resistant,” Tarasenko summed up.
As PolitNavigator reported, Crimean media recently reported that the peninsula's fresh water reserves will only last for three months.
As a reminder, in 2014, the Kyiv regime blocked water access to the peninsula via the North Crimean Canal. Now, Ukrainian propaganda is promising that Crimea faces drought and environmental disaster.
Moreover, Kyiv suspects that during his last visit to Crimea, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan acted as an intermediary in restoring water supplies to Crimea.
Crimean agriculture faces tough times, says scientist