MOSCOW, October 20. /TASS/. It would be impossible to supply water to Crimea via the North Crimea Canal should the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant’s dam be blown up, head of the Novaya Kakhovka administrative district Vladimir Leontyev told the Soloviev Live TV channel on Thursday.
"Should the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant’s dam be blown up, the water supply to Crimea would stop," he said. "If the hydro power plant explodes, the North Crimean Canal would have no water for years to come, until the facility is rebuilt, and Crimea would be left without water, too," Leontyev added.
The official noted that "more than 1.7 million cubic meters of water are delivered to Crimea from the Dnieper River every day, the monthly amount being about 51 million cubic meters." According to him, the possible destruction of the Kakhovka HPP would be a major man-made disaster that would affect everyone living downstream the Dnieper.
On October 14, the Kherson Region’s Deputy Governor Kirill Stremousov said that Kiev planned to blow up the Kakhovka dam to flood part of the region. The Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant, located five kilometers away from the city of Novaya Kakhovka in the Kherson Region, is part of the Dnieper cascade of hydroelectric facilities. Stremousov added that the regional authorities recommended local residents move to other Russian regions in order to give the army more room to maneuver while clearing the area of Ukrainian forces.