Π. I. Romashchenko, O. O. Dekhtiar, Yu. V. Husyev, M. V. Yatsiuk Β· 11 authors
Climate change has caused rapid soil dehydration in Ukraine; therefore sustainable agriculture will only be possible applying throughout irrigation or water regulation. Meanwhile, the use of the irrigation and drainage systems potential remains extremely unsatisfactory. In 2019, 532,000 ha were actually irrigated, and water regulation was performed on less than 300,000 ha. The purpose of the research. To analyze the existing state and substantiate the areas of the irrigation and drainage sector development to ensure the sustainable agriculture in the face of a changing climate. Materials and methods of the research. In the work, a set of methods was used: analytical, expert evaluations, surveys, comparisons and analogues, experimental. Observation data from the state meteorological stations network were used to evaluate hydrothermal conditions and the data from the network of hydrological posts of Ukrhydrometcentre were used to evaluate the river condition. To assess the technical condition of the engineering infrastructure, methodological approaches were used in accordance with the requirements of the international and European standards and the normative documents currently in force in Ukraine. To identify the possible ways and mechanisms to restore the irrigation and drainage systems potential, the reasons of the existing state were analyzed and it was determined that the uncompleted land and economic reforms, imperfections in the existing legislation and state support mechanisms, especially in the sector management, caused the long-year underfunding of irrigation and drainage facilities operation and restoration and resulted in the crisis situation in the sector. Conclusions. Based on the study of the world experience and the carried out research, it was established that the restoration and development of irrigation and drainage in Ukraine are possible only along with the implementation of a legal and institutional reform to introduce decentralization, improvement of the existing legislation, modernization of irrigation and drainage systems through the development and implementation of investment projects for restoration and development of irrigation and drainage systems, creation of attractive investment environments, development and introduction of a financing mechanism to cover management, operation and maintenance costs based on a new tariff formation system, introduction of the scientific support and staffing system for the land reclamation sector. The basis for the deployment of irrigation and drainage restoration should be the "Irrigation and Drainage Strategy in Ukraine until 2030", and the appropriate plan of measures, formed on the basis of fundamentally new institutional, scientific, technical and technological, economic, organizational, social and environmental approaches, should become a tool for achieving the goals of the "Strategy ...". Successful implementation of the goals of irrigation and drainage restoration in Ukraine will create the conditions to sustainable and profitable agricultural production in the face of climate change, to restore irrigation on the area of about 1,0 to 1,2 mln. ha and drainage on the area of 1,0 mln. ha and to additionally get up to 10 mln. tons of grain, 8-10 mln. tons of fruit, berries and vegetables annually.
Open access
Environmental Science and Water Management
Scientific Research Methodologies and Applications
The implementation of the EU-water framework directive (EU-WFD) demands a financeable and adaptable sewage treatment, creating a need for action especially in rural areas, where the "good ecological status" is often not reached even though the sewage works fulfill the legal minimum requirements. Therefore the construction of new, more efficient wastewater treatment plants is advisable. Due to the precarious financial situation in most rural areas, many municipalities can however not master the necessary funds for an improved waste water infrastructure. A large part of the costs would have to be shouldered by the local population in the form of additional sewage levies, leading to massive socio-economic strain. Hence, different solutions, which are tailored to the socio-economic, demographic and environmental characteristics of rural areas and fulfill the legal requirements, need to be developed. One possible approach is presented in the form of the Dirlammen case study (municipality Lautertal, Hesse, Germany). It consists of 1) biological and physicochemical analyses of the waste waters, 2) a modified eco-balance for the construction of a new sewage works and 3) socio-economic and demographic analyses of the population. It serves as a tool for the assessment of the influencing ecological, socio-economic and demographic factors on the sewage problems in rural areas. These findings can easily be transferred to other rural areas with a similar configuration and thus deliver the basis for a generally applicable approach to these problems. The results of the comprehensive analysis have shown for the municipality Dirlammen/Lautertal that the continued operation of the existing pond sewage plant is, with regards to the ecological, socio-economic and demographic points of view, preferable to the construction of a new waste water treatment plant. With regard to the sustainability principles of the sewage treatment and the objectives of the EU-WFD, existing sewage works should be operated for as long as the sewage treatment is feasible within technical and legal boundaries. With the construction of new facilities on the other hand, the expected improvement of the water quality has to be weighed against the ecological impairments caused by the construction itself. Rural waste water plans have to be developed for the long-term, taking not only the ecology into account but also the demographic change. Possible approaches in this regard could be a shift towards a decentralized waste water treatment concept and-even more important-improvements of the river morphology. But also the reduction of the diffuse pollution from agricultural sources should be considered for the development of strategies for the improvement of the ecological state. Short-term optimization measures in the existing sewage works might also improve the water quality until the long-term development plans can be implemented. In particular the challenges of the demographic change and linked with that the changing requirements for the rural waste water treatment must be addressed by any future plans. Only with the help of such a comprehensive approach the dangers of bad planning and unacceptable socio-economic burdens can be minimized.