MODERN WATER CONFLICTS AND CONFRONTATIONS (HYDROGEOLOGICAL ASPECT)

Abstract

The article discusses ambiguous, controversial decisions and cases of handling water resources in Ukraine and on the border territory of neighboring states. These are situations in which the water environment (water bodies) becomes an obstacle, a victim, a resource, a means of pressure, and sometimes a weapon for various participants. In wartime, water resources are used by aggressors as a weapon, including as a means of putting pressure on the population by depriving them of the necessary means of subsistence. It is shown that in democratic states, in the presence of corruption in the field of water resources management, any solutions are possible, if the propaganda company is directed accordingly. The article highlights six categories of narratives that distort the real situation and are designed to impose on society a certain decision regarding the treatment of a water body that is beneficial to one of the parties to the conflict or the beneficiary. Examples of these categories from the events of recent decades are given: the E40 waterway, the Khotyslavskyi quarry, the Kakhovs’kyi reservoir, water supply of Crimea, which is still occupied by russia, etc. Hydrogeological aspects are mostly discussed. From a comparison of a number of contradictory factors for and against the restoration of the Kakhovs’kyi reservoir, restoration is more appropriate. In the absence of a reservoir, the safe operation of Zaporizhzhya NPP even at 50% of maximum capacity becomes problematic. It is emphasized that in disputed situations, balanced decisions should be made based on the expert assessments of at least three parties: two participants in the dispute and an independent party, with the limitation of biased non-professional assessments in favor of one of the parties and the exposure of falsifications. For this, it is necessary to train specialists capable of objectively evaluating such controversial situations, and society should be educated on the priorities of 'environmentalism', rational use of resources and far-sighted benefits for the country.