Sasyk Estuary Experiences “Rebirth,” Thanks to Ukrainian NGO
“During Soviet times, one had two things to fear – militarization and meliorism.” This bitter joke comes from Iryna Vykhrystiuk, leader of Vidrodzhennya (Rebirth), a non-governmental organization located in Tatarbunary, Odesa region. Still, while the military threat targeted external enemies, it was the state’s citizens who had to bear the impact of reckless projects designed by bungling “meliorators”. It suffices to mention the absurdly monumental plans to reverse the course of Siberian rivers, or the destruction of the Sea of Aral.
In Ukraine, where instances of irresponsible human intrusion into the natural environment are also abundant, there is the case of the Sasyk Estuary on the Black Sea, which Soviet officials had planned to convert into a fresh water reservoir. The intention was to build a dam that would separate the 35 by 11 kilometer estuary from the sea, pump out the saltwater and displace it with freshwater from the Danube River, which was eventually be used to irrigate the steppe soils on the plain between the Danube and the Dnister Rivers.
The attempt to alter nature’s course began in 1978 by those who thought that humans could meddle with the environment in with no adverse consequences. In today’s prices, it cost over $5 million to build the dam. However, unlike people, nature refused to comply with Soviet designs. Salty estuary mud and highly mineralized underground water springs turned the artificially formed lake into a kind of salty soup, and a crust of salt covered the irrigated fields. Today agronomists admit that local political bosses, un-willing to admit their mistake, forced them to submit falsified expert analyses and re-port success in field irrigation, while in reality, excess quantities of saltwater was devastating 19,000 hectares of land and ruining harvests.
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Aerial photo of the Sasyk Estuary
Photo Credit: Ihor Gerzhyk |
It was only in 1994 that the reckless experiment was halted; but the estuary remained isolated. Local communities in the area became part of a growing environ mental disaster; even the dead could find no rest as the rising water of the estuary flooded the old local cemetery. Even then the fate of the Sasyk Estuary did not improve because local officials jumped at the chance to make money from the reservoir. First, they attempted to control fishing rights in the new lake, although the fish were officially declared unsafe to eat. They drew additional funds from the central government to build le-vies around local cemeteries to pre-vent the flooding of graves; and spent 50 million UAH on reviving the small local rivers that the damming of the Sasyk had dried up.
NGO Vidrodzhennya finally took the lead in the quest for the revitalization of the Sasyk Estuary. With support from UCAN, the NGO conducted a public opinion survey involving 3,500 citizens, nearly the entire adult population of the area. The people spoke in favor of the Sasyk, giving Vidrodzhennya good grounds to petition the government on behalf of the local community.
In February 2, 2004, the President of Ukraine issued a decree making the upper section of the Sasyk, where nature and wild birds could still withstand the plundering of “meliorators” and poachers, a part of the Danube Biosphere Park.
The independent expert analysis initiated by Vidrodzhennya and performed by Moldovan scientists revealed the true extent of the problem. Aerial photos provided needed documentary proof to the scientists from the Institute of Market Problems, and Economic and Environmental Research of the National Academy of Science of Ukraine of environmental decline in the area. Today the Institute’s report is under consideration at the Presidium of the Academy of Science, and the quest for revival of the estuary continues.
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