Data released by Moldova’s Ministry of Ecology on water inflows into the reservoir in Novodnestrovsk, Ukraine, over the past week indicate that the situation is changing rapidly. However, it hasn’t been getting worse every day: “Monday—15 m³/s, Tuesday—29 m³/s, Wednesday—19 m³/s, Thursday—18 m³/s, Friday—14 m³/s.” However, the ministry did not specify the discharge from this reservoir into the Moldovan section of the Dniester. It can be assumed that it remains at the level agreed upon by the Moldovan-Ukrainian Commission on the Dniester at its last meeting—75 cubic meters per second.
The next meeting of the commission, according to some of its Moldovan members, is tentatively scheduled for August 25–27. Until then, the Moldovan side hopes to receive an explanation from the Ukrainian side regarding its determination that the critical water level in the Novodnestrovsk Reservoir is 112 meters (whereas technical documentation specifies 102 meters as the “dead zone”).
A portion of the statement from Moldova’s Ministry of Ecology—which reads: “While discharges from the Dubossary Reservoir were maintained at 77–78 m³/s until August 20, the flow rate was reduced to 72 m³/s yesterday, and a further decrease to 65 m³/s is forecast for today.”
In a comment to Logos Press, Eco-TIRAS Director Ilya Trombitsky suggested that the water level of the Dniester in the river’s lower reaches is likely being affected by the active operation of irrigation systems on the Dniester’s left bank. He also noted that he had proposed including representatives from Transnistria in the Moldovan-Ukrainian commission on the Dniester. However, this proposal was not accepted.
