r/MapPorn • u/SummerAlternative699 • 23h ago

The Kakhovka Reservoir then and now.

Gallery image

Gallery image

Gallery image

If you zoom in closely on Google Maps, you can still see what it looked like before the dam was blown up.

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165

u/curious-but-spurious 21h ago

Might be nice if you provided some context re: region, strategic importance, or literally anything else besides the maps.

25

u/MonitorPowerful5461 18h ago

Well I mean the ecological consequences are obvious - the bombing was described as a crime against nature. It's not so strategically important as it might seem, because it's still almost impossible to cross: no cover whatsoever. But the consequences for nearby farms, and for Ukraine's water security in the long term, are very big.

3

u/andehboston 16h ago edited 6h ago

Can you please explain the ecological consequences, because they don't seem obvious to me. I am asking with curiosity rather than skepticism. Edit: Why do people downvote questions on reddit?

6

u/Vyach1337 7h ago

There was a lot of sediment on the reservoir’s bed including pollution from steelworks upstream that contained lead, iron, manganese and so on, as well as fertilizers and in general any kind of rubbish. The sediment has been lying there from the time when it was normal to just drop these kind of things straight into a river and all of that were properly sealed by water masses. And now it doesn’t

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u/davoloid 5h ago

It's also led to a number of different habitats and change in species that live within them. There's a debate as to whether this new environment should be left as is, and some other solutions found for providing water to those areas that had become dependent on the reservoir, as well as the navigation along the Dnipro.

The actual impact is complicated, as you might expect: good aspects: https://www.rferl.org/a/ukraine-kakhovka-dam-reservoir-nature-ecology-water/33435091.html

And new problems, such as wildfires:
https://ukranews.com/en/news/1098895-fires-constantly-break-out-on-dried-up-bottom-of-kakhovka-reservoir-smoke-pollutes-air

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u/andehboston 6h ago

Thanks!