MOSCOW, June 21./TASS/. The cholera bacterium which causes acute intestinal diseases has once again been detected in the water in Odessa, the city’s administration reported on Wednesday.

It said vibrio cholera, belonging to Heiberg group 1 "was found in water samples taken on June 16-17 at a point (sea port, berth 2). "These vibrios cholerae are not agents of cholera, but they cause acute intestinal infections," the administration said.

In addition, it said that seawater samples taken on June 17 for microbiological indicators did not meet hygienic standards.

According to lab test results, the drinking water in the city meets sanitary norms, the administration added. "Non-standard samples were not found in two tests of drinking water selected for sanitary and microbiological indicators and two tests of drinking water for sanitary and chemical indicators," the administration said.

Authorities in Odessa have already previously reported that pathogens of rotavirus, salmonella and cholera vibrio were found in seawater near the coast. After that, fishing was banned in the city, as well as selling and eating fish and seafood, Odessa Mayor Gennady Trukhanov reported. The sanitary situation on the coast has sharply deteriorated after garbage began to flow in from the flooded area caused by the Kakhovka hydropower plant dam’s collapse.

Kakhovka HPP dam breach

In the early morning hours of June 6, Ukrainian forces delivered a strike on the Kakhovka HPP. The shelling destroyed the hydraulic sluice valves at the HPP’s dam, triggering an uncontrolled discharge of water. It stood as high as 12 meters in Novaya Kakhovka, but the water is gradually subsiding now. A total of 35 communities and territories found themselves in the flood zone.

The collapse of the hydro plant’s dam has caused serious environmental damage, with farmland along the Dnieper River being washed away and a heightened risk that water levels in the North Crimean Canal will become unsustainably low. According to the most recent information, 41 people have died and 121 have been hospitalized as a result of the disaster.

Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov described the attack on the Kakhovka HPP as a deliberate act of sabotage by Ukraine. He added that the Kiev regime should bear full responsibility for the consequences.