In his latest post on Facebook, Eco-TIRAS Director Ilia Trombițchi notes that the flow into the river from the Carpathians remains below 30 cubic meters per second. At the same time, the release of water from the reservoir downstream into the Moldovan section of the Dniester still amounts to the minimum of 100 cubic meters per second stipulated by the intergovernmental agreement.
In a comment to Logos Press, the expert explained that at the current rate of decline, the water level in the reservoir will drop by another meter or so by the end of this month (usually the hottest and driest in Moldova). As a result, difficulties may arise with the normal operation of the Dniester Hydroelectric Power Plant. Consequently, there is reason to believe that in the very near future, the Ukrainian side will raise the issue of temporarily reducing the agreed-upon rate of water release into the river downstream of the reservoir. However, even the current water release rate is very low for the normal functioning of the river’s ecosystem.
According to Ilia Trombițchi, the solution is neither quick nor cheap: reforestation of the Carpathians and scaling back hydropower operations in the mountains.
