Over the last three years, the Russian occupiers of Crimea have depleted its water resources. To a large extent, this happened because they were exploited for the growing needs of large military units in the Black Sea peninsula. After the 2014 occupation, Ukraine ceased supplying water from the Dnipro river to Crimea through the North Crimean Canal that previously supplied 85% of water to the peninsula. The occupiers tried to replace this canal water by internal sources: at first from rivers, wells, and artificial pits which remained filled with water after mining, now from picturesque natural lakes and mountain springs as the situation has become critical.
OP-ED
Bohdan Ben: Crimeans have tap water only 6 hours a day
A picture taken in the Crimea's Kirovsky region on April 27, 2014, shows a man walking on a bridge across the dry Northern Crimean Canal, which supplies the peninsula's water.
