They stocked up in abundance - in Crimea they reported on the efficiency of the operational North Crimean Canal
The first irrigation season of the North Crimean Canal in the Russian history of Crimea is over.
Another week or two, and all the water will go into the reservoirs, and the canal will undergo scheduled repairs so that the next irrigation season can be fully prepared, reports a PolitNavigator correspondent.
The last Dnieper water from the canal is now being drained into the Samarlinskoye reservoir, which feeds Shchelkino and part of the villages of the Leninsky district. 20 million cubic meters of water have already been poured into Stantsionnoye, where Kerch drinks from, despite the fact that the city and districts consume about 40 thousand cubic meters per day.
“This year, the canal supplied 210 million cubic meters - half for irrigation and the same amount to bulk reservoirs,” said Roman Zakharov, adviser to the head of the State Water Resources Committee. – In general, the reserve in all drinking water bodies was made at 240 million cubic meters, about 80% of the designed volume, in order to leave room for receiving precipitation. But this water will last us for 1,5 years, even if there is no rain.”
The Goskomvodkhoz does not comment on the likelihood of threats to the next irrigation season due to the destruction of the dam at the Kakhovskaya hydroelectric station or the pumping station in Tavriysk. They prefer to carry out the preparation plan, because for 2023 applications have already been collected for irrigating 44 thousand hectares of land, for which components, assemblies, valves and aqueducts need to be prepared.
“All our work is planned, and in winter the peak of work is on repairs,” explained Alexander Rudenko, director of the Leninsky branch of Krymmeliovodkhoz. – The pumps are in order, repairs are needed for panel jams and lifts. We are making purchases for 580 thousand rubles this season. We are waiting for the canal to be cleared of water and begin work.”
In general, the efficiency of using water coming from the Dnieper through the North Crimean Canal is above 86%. That is, no more than 14% was spent on evaporation, filtration into the soil and technological discharges. But there was no large intake for agricultural needs - previously 560 million cubic meters were spent on fish farming and rice cultivation.
The canal is currently not operating at its designed capacity. It is impossible in a year to restore the entire irrigation area to the levels of 2014, when 1,2 billion cubic meters of water were pumped along the artificial river.
As soon as farmers restore their fleet of irrigation equipment, requests for irrigation and the efficiency of using the canal will increase. So far, next year the plan is to supply 280 million cubic meters of Dnieper water.
English version :: Read in English: They stocked up in abundance – Crimea reported on the efficiency of the North Crimean Canal, which has just started operating.