12:31 28.03.2017

Ukraine begins to suffer from water shortage – Environment minister

2 min read
Ukraine begins to suffer from water shortage – Environment minister

In recent years, the level of filling of Ukrainian rivers is within 20% of the norm - Ukraine begins to suffer from a shortage of water, Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources Ostap Semerak said on the air of the 'ZIK' TV channel.

"Today there is not a single lake or river left in Ukraine where the quality of water would have been at the level of the first class. For example, last summer I woke up every morning and was horrified to see the news, whether the pestilence of fish began in some river," the minister said.

According to him, this situation is caused by deforestation, the attitude of industrial enterprises to water resources and clearing of water arteries.

At the same time, in view of the weakness of the Ukrainian environmental legislation, according to which only administrative responsibility is provided for such treatment of natural resources, no single enterprise-violator has been punished.

"The Environment Ministry together with the Prosecutor General's Office developed the amendments to the criminal legislation, which provides for increased liability for the damage to nature. But in December of last year the parliament passed a law very quickly, which prohibits any inspections in 2017, including environmental ones. Therefore, the Environment Ministry actually turned out to be under a moratorium on conducting inspections," Semerak said.

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