Ukraine is a rich country in terms of still existing natural or near-natural landscapes. Landscape changes, however, have destroyed much of this richness already; the process is still going on and has negative impacts on land and water resources. This is often difficult to recognise. People are mainly concerned about the quality of drinking water but reliable comprehensive information is difficult to obtain. To understand the most relevant pressures and how they affect the ecological state of the environment we have to consider the role that soils, groundwater and surface waters play and which are crucial for drinking water quality. The following webpages aim at giving the background information to ease the understanding of the presented information.   

The method is explained in English http://www.eco-knowhow.eu/basin/gis-abstract-mh.htm and in Ukrainian language: http://www.eco-knowhow.eu/methods/gis-method_ua.htm.

First results are published on an external web-site:  http://europeicid2009.org/media/trudy/Hoffmann-Ukraine.pdf

and on http://www.icid2011.nl/files/pdf/Paper%20I-2%20Hoffmann%20et%20al.pdf

Thereafter, we go into the details discussing results of case studies in and around Kiev.

• Effects of soil types and land use (updated in 2009)

• Kiev City Rivers – water quality

• Salinisation of Kiev City Rivers

• Chlororganics (AOX) in Ukrainian rivers and in Kiev  city rivers

• New subject: current waste management problems in Ukraine (in preparation)

• study of environmental impacts from landfill leachate (step 1: choice of methods; Russian text here)

Finally we present  big river systems that have been investigated in former years.

• The Dnepr and the Kiev reservoir (s. arrow above)

• Origin of organic loads (humic acids and eutrophication in the r. Dnepr and Desna)

• The Danube – results of PCB and DDT investigations

• River Inguletz – loads from mining and salinisation (EN/ RU)  

• The river Ob basin -  a study in Siberia

drinking water problems:

 artesian well

village well

In most cities, surface waters are the main source of drinking water. Treatment and disinfection of this water are rather problematic: toxic effects on water organisms (En / Ru) and formation of byproducts that have negative impacts on human health.

in Kiev, already more than 260 deep artesian wells have been drilled to provide alternative drinking water; here people can fill up their daily ration; the only question is:  do they always provide safe drinking water ? ......  In some cases doubts are justified.

Update: recently, most wells have officially been closed !!!

Ukrainians, living in villages are also at risk: water from shallow wells that is often enriched with nitrates and pesticides.