In 1965 the canal was completed as far as the city of Dzhankoi in the center of Crimea. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. In 2018, due to lack of water, the reservoir started releasing sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere. Of the water from the canal, 72% went to agriculture and 10% to industry, while water for drinking and other public uses made up 18%.[1]. Now there is an opposite dynamic. It is difficult to estimate to what extent these investments compensate for the losses suffered by the local economy as a result of occupation, sanctions and water shortages. Crimea has always depended on the water supply from the mainland. Crimea Drills For Water As Crisis Deepens In Parched Peninsula. Russian troops destroy Ukrainian dam that blocked water to Crimea - RIA Before Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, 85% of its water was supplied via a canal that runs from the Ukrainian region of Kherson, directly to the north. Water shortages can also lead to industrial accidents. So getting the people of Crimea access to water, under this view of the conflict, is Russia's problem. Firstly, the water crisis doesnt endanger civilians. Today, the water crisis affects all facets of life on the peninsula. It has become a source of tension not only between Moscow and Kyiv but also within the Ukrainian government itself. Apart from that, Russian investments helped improve Crimeas energy self-sufficiency; to develop a complex system of communications and logistics, including airports, railways, natural gas and electricity networks; as well as to restore and enhance its military presence on the peninsula. The canal has to be renovated, which would require considerable investments. The Kremlin had been fuming about the dam ever since. With temperatures soaring to more than 40C at this time of the year, I normally sleep outside in my garden, but I . Also located in Kherson is a crucial Soviet-era canal, which long provided a vital supply of fresh water to Crimea. Technically, if the dam is completed and the North Crimean Canal is privatized, the water supply to Crimea can be resumed. Anna Olenenko, an agriculture historian from the Khortytsia National Academy in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, points out that blowing up the dam and restarting the flow of water toward Crimea was one of Russia's first acts of the war. In December 1976 the canal was officially put into operation. Feb. 25, 2022. It is a very old equipment that has been used for many years. Chronic water shortages have been an acute problem ever since. Some aspects of this crisis are fairly straightforward, for instance, the impact on the agricultural sector that suffered tremendous losses after the water supply from the mainland was cut off. In 2019, Russia began the reconstruction of the intermountain water reservoir near Simferopol.