OP-ED

Alla Hurska: Can Crimea solve its water problems without Ukraine?

By Alla Hurska.

Published Aug. 13, 2020. Updated Aug. 13 at 9:42 pm

Russian Boxing Federation lifts a portrait of late Soviet leader Joseph Stalin with a hot air balloon, close to city of Belogorsk outside Simferopol, Crimea, on May 11, 2020, to mark the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II.

Photo by AFP

The weather in July brought rain to Crimea—but still not enough to save the peninsula from its severe multi-year drought. That same month, the volume of freshwater in Crimea’s reservoirs decreased by almost 8.5 million cubic meters. By August, the amount of reservoir water left totaled around 75 million cubic meters, compared to 164 million last year (Crimea.kp.ru, August 3).