Russia's detonation of Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant. Scientists sound the alarm over toxic elements at the bottom of the reservoir
news.online.ua
Sat, 15 Mar 2025 19:03:00 +0200
Scientists are concerned about toxic elements at the bottom of the Kakhovka ReservoirThe collapse of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station dam not only destroyed local ecosystems, but also led to their contamination with heavy metals and other toxic elements that were stored in the sediment at the bottom of the reservoir.Scientists made these conclusions by analyzing the level of contamination with these elements before the disaster and modeling their spread after the Russian Federations war crime.According to researchers, because some local residents still use water from the lakes left after the dam was blown up, toxic elements can seriously threaten their health.
Scientists say that the operation of many upstream plants over a long period of time has polluted the waters of the Kakhovka Reservoir with elements such as nickel, cadmium and lead.
Scientists have estimated that this could have led to the accumulation of approximately 83,000 tons of these and other toxic elements in a layer of sediment about 1.5 meters thick at the bottom of the reservoir.
Scientists noted that after the dam was breached, this contaminated sediment spread both downstream and upstream through turbulent flows that mixed different layers of water.
Currently, less than 1 of the nearly two cubic kilometers of sediment has washed downstream, but seasonal floods are washing toxic elements out of the dried sediment at the site of the former reservoir and returning them to the waters of the Dnieper.Another threat to the affected area is that over time, these toxic elements accumulate in plants and animal bodies, which can also reach the human body.
As a reminder, on the night of June 6, 2023, the Russian occupiers blew up the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station, which they had controlled for over a year.
The blast destroyed the engine room and flooded dozens of settlements, including the city of Kherson.
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