Water level in Kakhovka Reservoir down by 1 m to 11.74 m over past 24 hours - Ukrhydroenergo

MOSCOW. June 9 (Interfax) - The water level in the Kakhovka Reservoir is continuing to decrease and reached 11.74 meters in the Nikopol area as of 8 a.m. Friday, Ukrainian media reported citing Ukrhydroenergo, the state hydropower plant operator.

"The water level in the Kakhovka Reservoir has decreased by one meter more in the past 24 hours. And it has dropped by a total of 4.7 meters since the morning of June 6," it said.

More than half of the hydropower plant building is currently submerged, and the earthfill dam between the gate and the plant is being ruined by water, it said.

"Ukrhydroenergo's hydropower plants keep accumulating as much water as possible in the upper reservoirs of the Dnieper. This is essential for having a summer supply for environmental flows once the Kakhovka Reservoir's drawdown is over," Ukrhydroenergo said.

Earlier, Ukrhydroenergo CEO Igor Sirota said that the water level in the Kakhovka Reservoir decreased to 12.5 meters as of the evening of June 8, which was lower than the minimum operating level of 12.7 meters allowing for water intake.

Sirota anticipated that the water level in the reservoir would ultimately drop to about three meters. "If the lower part of the dam is ruined completely, the reservoir would be no more than three meters deep and its width would narrow to 1-1.2 kilometers from 3.5 kilometers, that is, it would return to the width of the Dnieper's waterway as it had been before the reservoir was built," Sirota said during a national TV marathon.

If the water level in the reservoir keeps decreasing at a rate of one meter a day, this process will continue for another seven to eight days, he said.