The current state of water resources of Transcarpathia

  • V. І. Nikolaichuk Uzhgorod National University
  • M. М. Vakerich Uzhgorod National University
  • J. М. Shpontak Department of Ecology and Natural Resources of Transcarpathian Government
  • М. К. Karpu’k Department of Ecology and Natural Resources of Transcarpathian Government
Keywords: Transcarpathian rivers, pollution, depletion, waste water

Abstract

Throughout their existence, humans use the water of rivers, lakes and underground sources not only for water supply but also for dumping of polluted waters and wastes into it. Significant development of urbanization, concentration of urban industrial enterprises, transport, increase in mining, expansion of drainage and irrigation reclamation, plowing of the river channels, creating a large number of landfills resulted in significant, and in some regions critical, depletion and contamination of the surface and ground waters. Because of this disastrous situation, the society is getting more and more concerned about the state of the environment. The public became increasingly interested in the state of the soil cover, air, water resources, and biotic diversity. Transcarpathian region (Zakarpattya) is situated in the heart of Europe, bordered by four Central European countries (Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania) and two regions of Ukraine (Lviv and Ivano-Frankivsk regions). Transcarpathian region (Zakarpattya) is one of the richest regions of Ukraine in terms of water resources. The territory is permeated by the dense network of rivers. There are in total 9,429 rivers of 19,866 kmlength flowing in the region. Among them, the rivers Tysa, Borzhava, Latoryca, Uzh have the length of over 100 kmeach. 25 cities and urban settlements of the area are substantially provided with the centralized water intake of underground drinking water. The rural areas have virtually no centralized water supply; mainly, it is carried out due to domestic wells or water boreholes. Predicted resources of underground drinking waters in the region are equal to 1,109,300 m3/day. The use of fresh water in 2014 per capita amounted to 23,769 m3, 15% less than in 2009. The main pollutants of surface water bodies are the facilities of utility companies in the region. Analysis of studies of surface water quality in Transcarpathian region in 2014 shows that water quality meets the sanitary rules and regulations by the most of indicators of general health and specific indices. 19.0% of total water supply systems fail to meet the sanitary norms and regulations, in particular: 14.2% for the lack of sanitary protection zones; 1.9% because of unavailability of the necessary integrated treatment facilities, and 7.6% by the reason of absence of disinfecting plants. Possible ways of avoiding the depletion of water bodies are preventive water protection measures aimed at preventing or limiting pollution, water contamination and depletion; besides, it is necessary to educate people explaning them the current state and possible consequences of thoughtless water consumption.

References

Bobyliov, Y.P., Brygadyrenko, V.V., Bulakhov, V.L., Gaichenko, V.A., Gasso, V.Y., Didukh, Y.P., Ivashov, A.V., Kucheriavyi, V.P., Maliovanyi, M.S., Mytsyk, L.P., Pakhomov, O.Y., Tsaryk, I.V., Shabanov, D.A., 2014. Ekologija [Ecology]. Folio, Kharkiv (in Ukrainian).

Chaithanya Sudha, M., Ravichandran, S., Sakthivadivel, R., 2013. Water bodies protection index for assessing the sustainability status of lakes under the influence of urbanization: A case study of south Chennai, India. Environ. Dev. Sustain. 15, 1157–1171.

Di Nardo, A., Di Natale, M., Guida, M., 2013. Water network protection from international contamination by sectorization. Water Resour. Manag. 27, 1837–1850.

Felbaba-Klushyna, L.M., 2009. Oxorona pryrody ekosystemy verxivya basejnu r. Tysy (Zakarpattya) [Nature protection of ecosystems upper basin Tisa (Transcarpathia)] Visn. Uzhgorod. Univ. Ser. Biol. 26, 248–261 (in Ukrainian).

Felbaba-Klushyna, L.M., Nikolajchuk, V.I., 2010. Basejnovyj pidxid do oxorony pryrody Zakarpattya [The basin approach to the nature protection of Transcarpathia]. Material mizhnarodnoyi naukovo-praktychnoyi konferenciyi «Stalyj rozvytok Karpat ta inshykh girskykh regioniv Europy», Uzhgorod. 112–114 (in Ukrainian).

Gerenchuk, K.I., 1981. Pryroda Zakarpatskoyi оblasti [Nature of Transcarpathian region]. Vyshha Shkola, Lviv (in Ukrainian).

Klepov, V.I., 2007. Regulation of environmental-protection water releases in the upper Volga basin as a method of increasing the reliability of water supply in the Moscow Region. Water Resources 34(5), 593–597.

Klimas, A.A., 1995. Impacts of urbanization and protection of water resources in the Vilnius District, Lithuania. Hydrogeol. J. 3(1), 24–35.

Korfali, S.I., Jurdi, M., 2009. Provision of safe domestic water for the promotion and protection of public helth: A case study of the sity of Beirut, Lebanon. Environ. Geochem. Hlth. 31, 283–295.

Kovalchuk, A.A., Nikolajchuk, V.I., Krochko, Y.I., Bojko, M.M., 2001. Prychyny katastrofichnyx pavodkiv u Zakarpatti ta perspektyvy yixnogo unyknennya u majbutnomu [The causes of the disastrous floods in Transcarpathia and their prospects of avoiding in future]. Visn. Uzhgorod. Univ. Ser. Biol. 9, 5–20 (in Ukrainian).

Litskas, V.D., Aschonitis, V.G., Antonopoulos, V.Z., 2010. Water quality in irrigation and drainage networks of Thessaloniki plain in Greece related to land use, water management, and agroecosystem protection. Environ. Monit. Assess. 163, 347–359. >> doi.org/10.1007/s10661-009-0839-3

Mishchenko, L.V., 2009. Geoekologichnyi stan komponentiv dovkillya v basejni r. Tysy (Zakarpattya) [Geoecological condition of environmental components in the Tisa basin (Transcarpathia)]. Ekologichna Bezpeka 6, 58–63 (in Ukrainian).

Napier, T.L., Tucker, M., 2001. Use of soil and water protection practices among farmers in the Midwest Watersheds. J. Environ. Manage. 27(2), 269–279.

Nikolajchuk, V.I., 1998. Oxorona dovkillya – najvazhlyvishe zavdannya sogodennya [Environmental protection is the most important task today]. Visn. Uzhgorod. Univ. Ser. Biol. 5, 104–105 (in Ukrainian).

Nikolajchuk, V.I., 2004. Ekologichnyj stan Zakarpattya. Problemy i perspektyvy [Ecological state of Transcarpathia. Problems and prospects]. Medium, Uzhgorod (in Ukrainian).

Nikolajchuk, V.I., 2007. Ekologichni problemy Karpat ta shlyakhy imovirnogo jikh podolannya [Environmental issues of Carpathians and ways to overcome them]. Visn. Uzhgorod. Univ. Ser. Biol. 21, 6–13 (in Ukrainian).

Nikolajchuk, V.I., Grabovskyi, O.V., 2000. Ekologichni problemy Zakarpattya u zvyazku z zabrudnennyam biogeocenoziv vazhkymy metalamy [Environmental problems Transcarpathia due to heavy metals pollution biogeocenosis]. Tezy mizhnarodnoyi konf. «Problemy suchasnoyi ekologiyi». Zaporizhzhya. 30 (in Ukrainian).

Nikolajchuk, V.I., Koval’chuk, A.A., Krochko, Y.I., 2001. Zaklyuchennya naukovoyi komisiyi po vyvchennyu prychyn pavodkiv 4-8 bereznya 2001 roku v Zakarpatskij oblasti ta perspektyvnyx zaxodiv po unyknennyu takyx katastrofichnyx yavyshh u maybutnomu [Conclusion Scientific Commission to study the causes of March 4-8, 2001 in the Transcarpathian region and future measures to avoid such catastrophic events in the future]. Lira, Uzhgorod (in Ukrainian).

Nikolajchuk, V.I., Krochko, Y.I., Krochko, V.Y., 1999. Ekologichni aspekty katastrofichnyx styxijnyx yavyshh v Karpatakh ta shlyakhy yikh poperedzhennya i usunennya [Environmental aspects of catastrophic spontaneous phenomena in the Carpathians and ways of their prevention and treatment]. Materials of mizhnar. konf. «Ekologichni ta socialno-ekonomichni aspekty katastrofichnyx styxijnyx yavyshh u Karpatskomu regioni (poveni, seli, zsuvy)». Raxiv. 249–252 (in Ukrainian).

Nikolajchuk, V.I., Potish, L.A., 2001. Ekologichni osnovy bezperervnogo rozvytku Zakarpattya [Ecological bases of continuous development Transcarpathia]. Materialy regional’noyi nauk.-prakt. konf. «Strategiya stalogo rozvytku Zakarpattya: Ekologo-ekonomichni ta socialni modeli», Uzhgorod. 64–68 (in Ukrainian).

Pop, S.S., 2002. Pryrodni resursy Zakarpattya [Natural resources of Transcarpathia]. Spektral, Uzhgorod (in Ukrainian).

Prikhod’ko, V.E., 2007. Protection of soil and water resources in the United States and Russia. Eurasian Soil Sci. 40(9), 1021–1023.

Semal, V.J., 2014. Dopovid pro stan navkolyshnogo pryrodnogo seredovyshha Zakarpatskoyi oblasti za 2013 rik [Report on Environmental Transcarpathian region by 2013]. Departament ekologiyi ta pryrodnyh resursiv Zakarpatskoyi oblderzhadministraciyi, Uzhgorod. Retrieved from URL www.ecozakarpat.gov.ua/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Закарпатська-регдоповідь- 2014.pdf (in Ukrainian).

Semal, V.J., 2015. Ekologichnyj pasport Zakarpatskoyi oblasti [Environmental passport Transcarpathian region]. Departament ekologiyi ta pryrodnyx resursiv Zakarpatskoyi oblderzhadministraciyi, Uzhgorod. Retrieved from URL http://ecozakarpat.gov.ua/?page_id=308# (in Ukrainian).

Shpontak, J.M., 2014. Monitoryng dovkillya v Zakarpatskij oblasti. Informacijno-analitychnyj zvit za 2013 rik [Environmental Monitoring in Zakarpattia region. Information-Analytical Report for 2013]. Departament ekologiyi ta pryrodnyx resursiv Zakarpatskoyi oblderzhadministraciyi, Uzhgorod. Retrieved from URL www.ecozakarpat.gov.ua/?page_id=1687 (in Ukrainian).

Stojko, S.M., 2000. Prychyny katastrofichnyx pavodkiv u Zakarpatti ta systema ekologichnyx profilaktychnyx zaxodiv yix poperedzhennya [The causes of the disastrous floods in Transcarpathia and ecological system of preventive measures to prevent them] Ukr. Botan. Zhurn. 57(1), 11–21 (in Ukrainian).

Stojko, S.M., 2008. Zberezhennya biologichnogo riznomanittya ta ekologichnogo balansu i pidtrymannya stalogo rozvytku v Karpatakh [Preservation of biological diversity and maintenance of ecological balance and sustainable development in the Carpathians]. Visn. Uzhgorod. Univ. Ser. Biol. 24, 5–10 (in Ukrainian).

Vasylevskyi, G.A., 1973. Vodni bagatstva Karpat [The water wealth of the Carpathians]. Karpaty, Uzhgorod (in Ukrainian).

Walcher, M., Bormann, H., 2015. On the transferability of the concept of drinking water protection zones from EU to Latin American countries. Water Resour. Manag. 29, 1803–1822. >> doi.org/10.1007/s11269-014-0912-8

Yakovlev, S.V., Nechaev, A.P., Myasnikova, E.V., Maksimov, A.V., 2002. Integrated water protection strategy based on evaluating the sources of pollution of water bodies. Theoretical Foundations of Chemical Engineering 36(1), 86–92.

Zastavecka, O.V., Zastaveckyi, B.I., 1996. Geografiya Zakarpatskoyi oblasti [Geography of Transcarpathian region]. Pidruchnyky and Posibnyky, Ternopil (in Ukrainian).

Published
2015-07-17
Section
Articles