Dniester Reservoir Water Level Hits Record Low

The Dniester Reservoir, located on the Dniester River in southwestern Ukraine near the border with Moldova, has reached its lowest recorded level for this date after a prolonged lack of rainfall reduced inflow.According to Ukrhydroenergo’s press service on Thursday, Aug. 20, the reservoir stood at around 112 meters (roughly 367 feet) under the Baltic height system, having fallen 76 centimeters (approximately 30 inches) since the start of August.JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official.“We have entered a period in which we are effectively managing water scarcity,” Bohdan Sukhetskyi, Ukrhydroenergo’s CEO said.Water supply and local communities remain a priorityState-owned Ukrhydroenergo, which operates the country’s principal hydropower and pumped-storage plants on the Dnipro and Dniester rivers, said the reservoir is now serving as a strategic water reserve.The company said releases and power generation at the Dniester hydropower complex are now being governed by water-management requirements – not electricity needs.The main priority is preserving water for municipal drinking supplies, local communities, water-intake facilities, while preserving the health of the river downstream.Natural inflow was about 20% of the August norm of 256 cubic meters (about 67,629 US gallons) per second, according to the Ukrainian Hydrometeorological Center on Monday, Aug. 7.At Zalishchyky, a key monitoring point on the Dniester, water discharge fell from 43 cubic meters (roughly 11,359 US gallons) per second on Aug. 1 to 32 cubic meters (about 8,454 US gallons) per second on Thursday. The average since the beginning of the month was 37 cubic meters (approximately 9,774 US gallons) per second. Other Topics of Interest Ukrainian Man Arrested in Poland Over Alleged Russian-Backed Plot Poland’s ABW arrested a 63-year-old Ukrainian man accused of planting a remotely triggered explosive under a Ukrainian defense industry official’s car in Irpin. Water security ahead of winterThe announcement comes as Ukraine increasingly prepares all its sectors for the upcoming winter, as authorities widely expect Russia to swift its winter campaign to target water supplies alongside the power and heating infrastructure.As of Aug. 7, in Russian-occupied Donetsk, centralized water supplies have deteriorated so sharply that many residents now have tap water available only for two to four hours every three days.In Mariupol, water is available for a few hours every other day, while residents of Yenakiieve reportedly receive supplies once every four days.The shortages have forced households to buy costly bottled water, wait for deliveries, or collect water from ponds, lakes, puddles, and even broken pipes – filling their containers with discolored water. Kyiv Post is Ukraine’s first and oldest English news organization, reporting since 1995. Its international reach – 97% of readers are outside of Ukraine – make it truly Ukraine’s global voice.