On Christmas Eve, Dmitry Kuleba, Ukraine Foreign Minister announced that Ukraine will block any attempted desalination plant in water-short Crimea. He said, “In Crimea, they said that they are trying to attract a large international company to implement desalinization technology… [W]e will prevent it from implementing this project.”
Up until 2014, Crimea received over 80 percent of its water supply from the North Crimean Canal, which channeled flow from the Dnieper River. Kiev then cut off this canal when Crimea chose to go with Russia against the UK-USA Maidan coup. Some parts of Crimea now have no water in the taps for up to 18 hours a day. Water is obtained from reservoirs and underground sources. The rivers are running low or dry which supply the reservoirs—the Alma, Kacha, Chernaya, Belbek and Tonas Rivers. Underground pumping has led to a salination problem.
