The Dnipro is not growling, just moaning

On October 8 The Day’s reporter Mykola Khriienko completed his 27-day journalistic socioecological expedition along the Dnipro River. He canoed 375 kilometers on the inflatable boat Robinson from Kyiv Reservoir dam to the dam of Kremenchuk Reservoir and finished near Svitlovodsk, Kirovohrad oblast. Khriienko set a goal of examining the environmental condition of the main artery of the country and investigating the situation with seizure of the Dnipro coastline water protection zone. During his trip Khriienko kept a journal where he recorded comments of hundreds of people living on the Dnipro banks and made almost 400 unique photographs. When Khriienko was on his way back to Kyiv, The Day’s journalist talked to him about the first results of the unique expedition on the phone.

“I distinguish three components in this unusual event: its sports, tourism, and journalistic character. It is only possible to travel down the river on a canoe to be able to clearly record the terrible condition of its banks, feel how the river lives, and see who privatized it. First of all, I was able to explore and record the impact of reservoirs on the state of the Dnipro River bed, including the horrible situation with erosion of the coast. Without any exaggeration, every year a few meters of the coast black soil disappear. It is caused mainly by the destructive impact of winds and water during storms and the natural process of rapid discharge of ice in spring. However, the serious damage to the ecosystem of the river is also caused by the speed boats and boats that they now sell under no control for use on reservoirs. These private boats, after quickly passing about 18 meters from the shore, trim the shore like a plow. I took photos of trees, which as a result of such phenomenon are massively growing with their stems tilted towards water. The question is about the presence of private boats on the river, because the Dnipro is practically dead for the public river transport. Other horrifying photos show the washed out graves at the old abandoned cemeteries. When the river floods the banks it literally washes the caskets out of the ground. As a result, there are human bones floating in the river.”

The Day often publishes articles about poaching on the Dnipro. Were you able to record the scale of this phenomenon?

“During my trip I was very determined to investigate the situation with poaching. The Dnipro is all in nets on the stretch from Vyshhorod to Svitlovodsk. There are tens of thousands of nets. The nets are used by private farms that have licenses to fish (however, I can’t tell if they respect the limits for fishing) and by many poachers. The latter check their nets not only at night, but quite openly in The Daylight. The number of fish in the Dnipro constantly decreases. Strategic fish reserves are being stolen because of the socioeconomic situation, poverty pushes people into poaching. The river is muddy, dirty, and neglected by the state. People live with memories about what the river once was like. No matter what they say up there in top offices, there is no effective state program for protecting the Dnipro. At least I have not seen the results of its implementation. Improvement of the Dnipro, the fight against poaching, and prevention of illegal building on the shores and in the river itself exist only in speeches of Ukrainian officials.

“Apart from poaching, the Dnipro suffers from chemical waste. Today it is not hard to record the huge discharges of chemicals in river, especially from Cherkasy Chemical Company. In order to avoid official payments and installment of waste disposal equipment ‘practical’ business executives dump chemicals in the water. Fishermen showed ugly black chemical, from the smell of which people can get poisoned. The ecosystem is distorted. The Dnipro is not growling anymore, it is only moaning. After this expedition I plan to consult environmentalists about the consequences of what I saw, organize the collected materials, and prepare publications for The Day.”

What is the situation with illegal development in the water protection zone?

“I saw virtually uncontrolled development in the water protection coastal zone. Nobody can begin any construction works closer than 100 meters to the waterline. I have a photo of cranes standing in water and making concrete takeaways in the river. This means that now not only shores are being illegally seized, but also the river itself. This is what the situation is like in villages near Kyiv and Cherkasy. Construction works are carried out in the bed of the Dnipro and in reservoirs. This should not be happening. If something like this had place in, let’s say, Canada, those responsible for such actions would have been put away in jail. The Dnipro has many bays, many of them in the places where small rivers flow in it. These bays are being seized in high gear. People build private summer residences. It is unfortunate that in some cases people have all the permits from local officials for such development, even though the law prohibits it. Four five-stored apartment buildings without sewage system are being built on the banks of the Dnipro. All drains go directly into the river. And there are thousands of such buildings.

“I plan to analyze in detail each recorded fact, receive consultations from environmentalists and lawyers. Water protection norms should be implemented. The Dnipro is the source of drinking water for 35 million people, if I am not mistaken. What is happening to the river now? Not so long ago fishermen cooked fish soup with water from the river and now they are even afraid to wash gutted fish in it.

“Virtually all Ukrainians are to blame for another sensitive issue – pollution of the Dnipro. It is difficult to verbally convey how many plastic bags, bottles, synthetic packs, and cups are floating in the river today. No matter where people go for outdoors recreation in summer, they always leave plastic and food waste behind. It is hard to imagine what lies at the bottom of the river.

“Today it might be dangerous to be an ecologist. Not so long ago, a famous environmentalist was killed in Dnipropetrovsk oblast. There is also recorded evidence of intimidation of the people of this profession. I deliberately took this step, because you can not be afraid all your life. The project was dangerous. The main problem was that I was drifting on an inflatable canoe. It is low and in the waters of the Kremenchuk Reservoir it was especially hard to move because the waves reached up to six meters. Sometimes I had to practically fly on top of them instead of swimming. In 1978 and 1979 I went on an expedition in frame canoes on the Vorskla River and Samara River. Therefore, I certainly have had some experience with that. But back then it was a group expedition. This time I had to be a commander and navigator, environmentalist, journalist, and athlete – all in one. I was canoeing 24 days out of the 27. The other three days there was a huge storm which made it impossible to move forward. Once, when the weather was bad, fishermen offered to take the canoe in tow for 15-20 kilometers but I refused. It was a matter of principle to cover the route on my own. Frankly, I would never agree to repeat what I’ve done again. It is extremely difficult. However, I am glad that I have successfully completed this expedition. The things that I have recorded from my canoe cannot be seen from a helicopter or from a boat, and especially they are impossible to see from the shore. Soon the readers of The Day will read about the results of my social and ecological expedition.”