Summary of the Analysis of Water Issues in the Siverskyi Donets river and Programme of Measures to Address Them
Excluding non-government-controlled areas, almost 96% of organic pollution is generated in the basins of the Udy (which receives wastewater from Kharkiv) and the Kazenyi Torets rivers and also reaches the Siverskyi Donets riverbed. If compared with the statistics before the onset of armed conflict, in 2013 the discharge of these organic substances into the Luhan river was 17-22% of the volume for the entire basin. Based on calculations, the discharge of organic pollutants from diffuse sources of rural households (private farms) in the Don basin significantly exceeds the total inflow from point sources.
FIGURE 12.
Sources of biogenic substances (nutrients) in the Don basin
Most of the organic matter from diffuse sources gets into the Velyka Kamianka, the Kazenyi Torets, the bed of the Siverskyi Donets, the Udy, and the Aidar, which aggregate 60% of all organic pollutant inflows. Ingress of biogenic substances (nutrients) into water is the driving force of eutrophication, which occurs with destruction of water body’s productivity, imbalance of organisms in the aquatic environment, and deterioration of water quality. Among the biogenic substances, the dominant role is played by compounds of phosphorus and nitrogen, and in some cases the situation may be affected by iron, silicon and molybdenum. Phosphorus has the most significant effect.
100%
point sources
80%
agricultural lands
60%
erosion processes
40% 20% Source: Osiyskyi E. et al., 2021
0%
Nitrogen
Phosphorus 31
