YALTA /Crimea/, June 10. /TASS/. The level of salt in the Syvash wetlands in Crimea has tripled due to the water blockade of the North Crimean Canal by Ukraine, which has harmed a number of Syvash inhabitants, including several endangered species, Crimean parliament speaker Vladimir Konstantinov said on Thursday during a session dedicated to integration of Crimea and Sevastopol in the Russian legal system. A number of species in the Syvash can be considered extinct, he noted.

"The water blockade of the North Crimean Canal has significantly affected the ecological safety of the republic. <…> There is a significant negative effect on the surrounding environment. In the past six years, the level of Syvash’s salt has nearly tripled, and the ground water level has gone down, which caused the shallow lagoons of the Syvash to dry out. The condition of all of the considered animal populations, including those included in the Red Data Book of the Russian Federation and the Red Data Book of the Republic of Crimea, has deteriorated, some of them can be considered extinct," Konstantinov said.

According to him, due to this damage, the territory of the wetlands can lose its conservation value. "The deterioration of Crimea’s ecosystem due to the water blockade of the North Crimean Canal should be thoroughly studied," the speaker said.

He added that since 2016, the area of irrigated lands with an unacceptable level of salt has been growing. In 2016, it covered 32,569 hectares, and now, it has reached 35,000 hectares. "We also need to note the man-made emergency in the city of Armyansk in 2018 as a result of toxic emissions into the atmosphere (the situation was affected by the depleted water resources due to the water blockade of the canal - TASS)," Konstantinov said.

In May 2014, Ukraine unilaterally cut off water from the Kherson Region, supplied through the North Crimean Canal, which met up to 90% of the peninsula's demand. Currently, the region’s residents and enterprises receive water from local sources.