Water supply ecosystem services of the former Kakhovka Reservoir

Abstract Kakhovka Reservoir (KR) on the Dnirpo River was one of the largest reservoirs in Europe. On the 6th of June 2023 at 02:50 AM the Kakhovka dam was demolished by RF military forces and as a result, by June 18-20 the Kakhovka Reservoir ceased to exist. In spite of its artificial origin, the KR supplied valuable ecosystem services (ESs) important for human being and natural aquatic and coastal ecosystems. The paper describes the key ESs of the Kakhovka Reservoir focusing attention on characteristic of the water-supply ES and its significance for the region. Supply of water for households and diverse sectors of the economy (provisioning ES) as well as providing water to ensure the functioning of natural ecosystems downstream of the KR were the most important ESs from the KR. Our estimates of the needs and analysis of actual volumes of water consumption from the KR by the population of the region (for drinking and economic needs), power generating stations (Kakhovka hydroelectric power station, Zaporizhzhya NPP and TPP), industrial enterprises, the agricultural sector (mainly for irrigation) show that in the absence of the Reservoir, the available resources of the Dnipro River cannot meet the needs of the region in water-supply ecosystem services as defined by the pre-war situation.