The quality of surface water was checked at 23 sites.
In August, the Western Bug and Xiang Rivers Basin Water Resources Management conducted surface water quality monitoring within the Ukrainian part of the Vistula River basin. These are 17 sites in the Western Bug sub-basin and 6 in the Syan sub-basin.
The water was tested for various physicochemical and chemical parameters, including heavy metals, pesticides, medicines, etc.
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In August, the lowest water quality was recorded:
- in the Poltva River – by the content of dissolved oxygen, organic, biogenic substances, SOC, pesticides;
- in the Western Bug River below the mouth of the Poltva River – by the content of dissolved oxygen, organic, biogenic substances and pesticides;
- in the Svynya River (below the town of Zhovkva) – by the content of organic and biogenic substances, polyaromatic hydrocarbons;
- in the Marunka River (below the town of Vynnyky) – by the content of organic and biogenic substances, volatile hydrocarbons;
- in the Malekhivka River (Malekhiv village) – by the content of organic substances.
The best water quality was observed in the Zavadivka River (Hrushev village). Compared to the previous reporting period (July 2024), the water quality has improved in the Poltva River, the Western Bug River below the mouth of the Poltva River (Busk, Kamianka-Buzka, Staryi Dobrotvir), Zolochivka, Malekhivka, and Yarychivka rivers. During this period, the water quality in the Svynya River, Moshanka River, Vyshnia River (on the border area) and Shklo River deteriorated.
“The problem of environmental pollution by hydrocarbons, heavy metals and pesticides is urgent due to their toxicity and ability to accumulate in living organisms. Therefore, it is necessary to implement wastewater treatment systems and control industrial emissions. The accumulation of hazardous substances in water is facilitated by agricultural activities, in particular, violation of the conditions for the use of pesticides and herbicides, burning of plant residues, and, of course, natural phenomena such as fires in ecosystems,” said Oksana Viytyk, Acting Director of the Department of Ecology and Natural Resources of the Lviv Regional State Administration.
Detailed information about Ukraine’s surface waters can be found on the map “Monitoring and Environmental Assessment of Ukraine’s Water Resources” created by the State Agency of Water Resources at the following link: http://monitoring.davr.gov.ua/EcoWaterMon/GDKMap/Index
The EcoThreat website(http://surl.li/fpqyb) also offers a free service – monitoring and environmental assessment of water resources by chemical indicators, which displays information on water assessment at designated observation points.