Thousands of Moldovans cut off from water after Russian strike on Ukrainian hydropower plant

BALTI, Moldova (AP) — Tens of thousands of Moldovans were left without water after a Russian strike on a hydroelectric plant in neighboring Ukraine led to oil pollution of a major river that runs through the two countries.

Moldovan President Maia Sandu blamed Russia for pollution of the Dniester River following an attack on Ukraine’s Novodnistrovsk hydroelectric plant on March 7, saying it “threatened Moldova’s water supply” in the European Union candidate country.

The Ukrainian plant is located about 15 kilometers (9 miles) upstream from Moldova’s northern border with Ukraine and supplies water to about 80 percent of Moldova’s population of about 2.5 million. Moscow has repeatedly targeted Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure, such as dams and river ports, since it fully invaded the country in 2022.

“Russia bears full responsibility,” Sandu said in a post on X on Sunday.

Moldova declares environmental alert

Moldova’s Environment Ministry declared a state of environmental alert for 15 days on Sunday, giving authorities a legal mechanism to step up technical interventions and impose temporary restrictions on water supplies.

“We are taking this decision to ensure that we prevent any risk to the health of the population,” the press release said. “Due to the continuing wave of pollution by petroleum products, the risk of spreading pollution and exceeding the levels of contaminants in the northern area of ​​the Dniester River.”

Although the presence of petroleum pollutants was confirmed in the river following the strike, the exact source of the pollutant is not yet clear.

The situation forced authorities to cut off water supplies in several districts, including Balti, Moldova’s second largest city, which has around 90,000 inhabitants. In addition to humanitarian aid from neighboring Romania, the Moldovan army intervened this week to distribute drinking water in the northern city from a 10-ton tanker.

Water shortage affects residents

“It’s very hard, very hard,” said Liuba Istrati, an 84-year-old Balti resident, who was carrying buckets of water to her apartment. “We live on the fifth floor, it’s just the two of us, elderly people, my husband is sick and bedridden.”

Water shortages have also forced some schools to close and move to online learning.

“It’s a complicated situation, I have to come and collect water every day,” said Irina Mutluc, a teacher living in Balti. “Even for one person, it takes a lot of water to consume, to go to the toilet, etc., so it’s really complicated.”

The authorities are now rushing to clean up, analyze and monitor the river water. Neighboring Romania, which has close relations with Moldova, has dispatched crews and equipment, such as absorbent materials for dams, to help with the cleanup efforts.

Tests show improvement in water

“The latest samples taken show an improvement in water indicators, which confirms the effectiveness of filters and barriers in capturing and eliminating pollutants,” the Ministry of the Environment said on Wednesday.

The ministry added that authorities are “working at an accelerated pace” to restore water supplies, “but this decision will be made exclusively on the basis of at least two consecutive sets of analyzes, carried out on two different days…Protecting the health of citizens remains the top priority.”

Moldovan Environment Minister Gheorghe Hajder told a press briefing on Wednesday that for the first time since the start of the crisis, three critical monitoring points on the river “had reached the permissible limit” of oil pollution.

He added that if analyzes show the same results or improve in the next 48 hours, authorities will consider reopening a pumping station on the northeastern border with Ukraine, which supplies several districts and Balti.

“It is evident that upstream oil diversions have been significantly mitigated and the sorbent booms have had their effect,” he said.

The Dniester River originates in southwestern Ukraine and stretches for more than 1,300 kilometers (846 miles), continuing downstream through Moldova, up through southern Ukraine, and emptying into the Black Sea.

“Even if at certain times the values ​​can temporarily return to acceptable limits, the material continues to arrive in waves, which makes it difficult to accurately anticipate the evolution,” said the Ministry of the Environment.

Moldova prepares criminal case

The Prosecutor General’s Office of Moldova announced on Tuesday that it would open criminal proceedings to investigate the matter, while the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Moldova summoned the Russian Ambassador to Chisinau, Oleg Ozerov, who was presented with a bottle of brownish water.

In a statement posted online Wednesday, the Russian Embassy in Moldova said Moldovan authorities had not presented any evidence of Russian complicity, other than “a container containing an unknown cloudy liquid, without any indication of where and when it was obtained,” and that “by definition, it cannot constitute proof of anything.”

The statement claims that Moldovan authorities “publicly claim a lack of precise information on the nature of the incident, the type and quantity of pollutants”, putting forward “conflicting theories”.

Ilya Trombitsky, a biologist at Eco-TIRAS, an organization bringing together non-governmental organizations from Moldova and Ukraine, says that while it is still difficult to determine the short or long-term consequences of pollution, the fact that “several cities are without water constitutes an obvious social damage”.

“It depends on the nature of the pollutant…we still don’t know the source or the substance of the pollution,” he told The Associated Press. “It’s obvious that it’s not healthy for the birds, the wetland birds. It’s obvious that some invertebrates have been killed, especially upstream… crustaceans, but small, (which) can serve as food for fish.”

“Moldova does not have experience with such spills,” he added.

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McGrath reported from Leamington Spa, England.