The level of water pollution in the Dnieper exceeds the norm by 28,000 times, Ukrainian Health Minister Viktor Lyashko said in an interview with the BBC. According to him, the entire water area of the river below the destroyed dam of the Kakhovskaya hydroelectric power station is "unsuitable for use." Therefore, the authorities forbade swimming, fishing and watering livestock there.
“When a person bathes in such water, disease [cholera, hepatitis, parasites] can potentially occur. Wastewater treatment facilities switched to emergency disinfection regimes. The monitoring of water quality in the water supply network has been strengthened so as not to miss an outbreak.”
Lyashko said that now public utilities are removing the corpses of animals, fish and shellfish from the bottom of the Kakhovka reservoir so that the decay products do not contaminate the water. The minister denied rumors of an outbreak of cholera in Ukraine, according to him, not a single case has been recorded yet. However, Lyashko acknowledged that the risk of such an outbreak is high.
“It is problematic to observe anti-epidemic conditions, process food and other things without drinking water in sufficient quantities. The water will recede, somewhere there will be a swampy area, and somewhere it will dry up, dust will spread. It's all a risk zone."
The dam of the Kakhovskaya hydroelectric power station collapsed and went under water on June 6, as a result, thousands of houses were flooded on both banks of the Dnieper. According to the latest data, 25 people were killed on the Russian-occupied left bank, and 17 more are missing. Such data were reported on June 16 by Vladimir Saldo, the Russian-appointed “head” of the Kherson region.
On the right bank, which is controlled by Ukraine, at least 10 people died. Kyiv accuses the Russian army of blowing up the dam.