Subsoil drinking water reserves exceed Crimean needs by three times - first vice-premier
NIZHNEGORSKY (Republic of Crimea). May 6 (Interfax) - Prospected subsoil water reserves in Crimea allow for the daily production of approximately 1.3 million cubic meters of water, which exceeds the regional demand for drinking water by more than three times, Crimean First Deputy Prime Minister Rustam Temirgaliev said.
"We can spend about 900,000 cubic meters [of water] a day for agricultural needs," Temirgaliev told reporters after a conference dedicated to water supply in Crimea.
Drilling for water and redistribution of the flow of Crimean rivers were the two main ways of normalizing water supply after Kyiv had stopped the delivery of Dnieper water to Crimea through the North Crimean Canal, he said.
Meanwhile, state company YuzhEcoGeoCenter Director Alexander Toporkov told reporters that the first two water wells had been launched in Stary Krym and the Saki district and drilling for water was being prepared on the Nezhinskoye and Grigoryevskoye fields on the Crimean steppe.
"We will drill 36 wells first and gain 200,000 cubic meters of water per day. This is great water, the purest water with extremely low mineralization levels, which will not require purification. We can do this job within several months," Toporkov said.
Crimea daily consumes about 400,000 cubic meters of water, and most of the demand is met by the flow of rivers and water reservoirs. It will cost approximately 67 million rubles to drill 36 wells, "which is not very much", Toporkov said.
According to Temirgaliev, money for well drilling will be assigned from the republic's budget.