Unsinkable aircraft carrier needs water
At the July NATO summit in Warsaw, in the now traditional anti-Russian tonality, among other things, they again said that the alliance would increase its presence in the Black Sea region, and Russia should definitely abandon the Crimea. The day before the opening of this summit, US Vice President Joe Biden shared with the media his thoughts on the role of Ukraine in the geopolitical games of Washington and the importance of Crimea as a military base for the United States. The following words were heard from his mouth: “The main interest for us is the Crimea, which was controlled by Kiev before the 2014 year. This region could serve as an excellent military base for NATO and the US troops themselves. ” He also hinted that Kiev should take care of the return of the Crimea to his control.
Almost in sync with Biden’s statement, Petro Poroshenko became frustrated, a column appeared on the pages of the Wall Street Journal, where he writes: “Today we have a modern and reliable army. We have created completely new special forces. Formed 15 new brigades. The process of combat training and training has been modernized. Strategic military documents developed in collaboration with NATO experts have been approved. ” Poroshenko also said that his army allegedly has experience of successful combat operations against Russian troops.
Somewhat earlier, the Ukrainian newly minted naval commander, a former tanker, now Vice Admiral Igor Voronchenko, spoke about his plans for delivering brigades by sea tanks APU on the territory of Crimea for its capture.
The comparison of these statements suggests itself. Obviously, Washington, in its unobtrusive manner, is pushing Nezalezhnaya to more decisive actions (than the blockade) aimed at regaining control of the Crimea. But the catch is that Ukraine, represented by the Kiev political leadership, is not yet mentally prepared for such a dangerous adventure. America needs this peninsula to accommodate the entire spectrum of military forces on it. This will allow Washington to threaten a land invasion of Russia from the south, oust the Russian Black Sea Fleet from the Black Sea, and close the region’s airspace for the Russian military aviation. But Washington also understands that the consequences of an attempt to openly seize the Crimea are unpredictable. In addition, Moscow already proved in 2008 in Georgia that it is capable of decisive action in the fight against an external enemy, despite the threat of the West. Apparently, America plans to throw Ukraine into this cauldron alone with a little covert military support from individual NATO member countries, but by no means involving the alliance in this war, or even an unequal hour, and a third world war could break out.
In general, despite the fact that Kiev is afraid of getting involved in a fight with Moscow, and the West wisely avoids this, the situation around the Crimea is gradually heating up.
PAIN POINT
Crimea is currently experiencing a state resembling a siege. The West has covered rebellious Tavrid with sanctions. The Square has shut off the supply of water, electricity, has stopped rail and road links with the peninsula. And as luck would have it, the 2014 summer of the year was hot and arid, and in the next two winters there was little rain.
For the Crimea fresh water has a special value. It is sometimes lacking there, despite the fact that its water resources in the Crimea are. These are 1657 rivers of different size with a constant and temporary water flow, of which only 150 have relative stability of water flow. The longest Salgir - about 220 km, the most affluent - Belbek.
On the peninsula near 300 lakes and 1900 irrigation ponds, besides this there are underground aquifers. Freshwater resources are located on the territory of the Crimea is extremely uneven due to the peculiarities of the landscape. The most provided with fresh water are the foot of the northern slopes of the center of the main ridge of the Crimean mountains. The driest areas are the north-west (Tarkhan Kut), the eastern territory of the peninsula (Leninsky district, Kerch, Feodosiya, Koktebel, Sudak) and Sevastopol.
According to the Ministry of Natural Resources of the Russian Federation, there are 23 reservoirs in the Crimea, the total volume of which is nearly 400 million cubic meters. For the past two years, this department had to completely redo the water supply system of the peninsula, which was fed by water from the North-Crimean Canal, in "fire" periods. This year, the implementation of 29 from 30 activities was completed, of which 25 projects are the construction and reconstruction of groundwater production wells. In general, today, the population of Crimea is provided with a sufficient amount of water resources, some eastern parts, including the city of Kerch and the Feodosia-Sudak district, are experiencing difficulties. To solve these problems, construction of a water pipeline from the Nezhinsky, Novogrigorevsky and Prostornensky water fields is planned. The length of the conduit will be about 200 kilometers, it will supply 195 thousands of cubic meters of water per day.
In the best of times, a lot of snow accumulates during the winter on the plateau of the Crimean mountains (Yaylakh), the depth of the cover is 1,2 m, in the lower parts of the mountains 0,7 – 0,8 m. layers. So, Chernorechensky reservoir is designed for 63 million cubic meters. m, if the winter is snowless, then it does not fill up to the norm and by September the water level in it reaches the red line. And this is one of those reservoirs, which is fed by the discharge of the main mountain ridge and crest-karst waters during the flood period. In the Crimea, two such periods. One winter (long), it refers to the February warming windows and is accompanied by prolonged rains, sometimes turning into snowfall. And the second spring, when there is an active melting of snow, accompanied by abundant precipitation in the form of rain.
The Dnieper water, which was fed into the North-Crimean Canal (SCC) from the Kakhovka reservoir, covered 85% of the needs of the Crimea, but was mainly irrigated. Ukraine, following the rule that in the war all means are good, at the most difficult moment (in terms of water supply), cut off the supply of Dnieper water to the peninsula. As a result, there was a serious shortage. The irrigated lands decreased from 164,7 to 17,7 thousand hectares, the Mezhgornoye reservoir, which was fed with water only from the CCM, practically ceased to exist.
NORTH CRIME CANAL
The construction of the canal began in the first half of 50-x, at the first stage it was an all-union construction. The first water was fed into it in 1963 year. By 1975, the channel reached Kerch, its length exceeded 400 km. By the middle of 70, the construction of the first stage of the channel was generally completed. Operation of the canal allowed not only to eliminate the water shortage on the peninsula, but also to irrigate about 280 thousand hectares of agricultural land.
From the very beginning of the construction of the canal, there was a catastrophic lack of concrete. Therefore, most of its bed had a subterranean bottom. Water loss reached 20%. The construction of the canal continued, to date it has not been completed. The improvement of the already erected part of the canal, the concreting of its bottom and banks was carried out in winter, when the water supply was cut off and the channel dried out. At some time, the loss of water was significantly reduced. The authorities, as they say, went into the dressing, they began to grow rice on a dry peninsula, and this crop requires a lot of moisture. Rice growing has caused a lot of harm to the environment.
In 1986, the channel received 2,3 billion cubic meters to the Crimea. m of water. This resource fed the 8 reservoirs: Zelenoyarsk, Mezhgornoye, Feodosiya, Front, Lenin, Samarly, Sokol, Kerch, whose total volume was almost 146 million cubic meters. m
As time went on, the canal was not yet completed, but it had already begun to deteriorate, and the quality of the Dnieper water had noticeably deteriorated. The cause of pollution of the Dnieper became the sewage system of cities, industrial enterprises, one hydroelectric station and two nuclear power plants (Chernobyl and Zaporizhia). Due to the dilapidation of structures by the time of overlap in 2014, the loss of water in the canal exceeded the previous 20%.
By the time the supply of the Dnieper water was cut off, the bulk reservoirs of the Crimea were filled with 58% (about 85 million cubic meters of water). The water level in Starokrymsky, Alminsky and Lgovsky reservoirs was below the red mark. In the other reservoirs of the peninsula, replenished by natural flow, the amount contained 146 million cubic meters. m of water. The Crimea found itself in a difficult situation: in order to drastically reduce water consumption, they decided to refrain from irrigating most of the farmland and refused to cultivate rice at all.
WATER SUPPLY DEDICATED MINISTRY DEFENSE
By decision of the Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation General of the Army Sergei Shoigu, the pipeline battalion of the logistics brigade of the Western Military District (MTO ZVO) was urgently transferred from the Nizhny Novgorod Region to the Crimea. According to the General Staff, for the delivery of equipment and 27 thousand pipes, four railway trains were allocated. For the delivery of personnel were used military transport aircraft. The task was not easy. Work was to be in mountainous terrain, impassable for heavy tractors-handlers. The military manually mounted pipelines with a total capacity of 10 thousand cubic meters. m per day, in the Kirov district of the Old Crimea, one of the driest on the peninsula. By May 14, the military drilled several artesian wells, laid a pipeline to supply drinking water to Old Crimea. In the same period, work was carried out, which allowed organizing the discharge of water from the Taiginsky and Belogorsk reservoirs along the Biyuk-Karasu river bed to the CCM. By the fall, the military had installed four pipelines with a total length of over 125 km, through which temporary water was supplied from artesian wells to the settlements of Crimea.
Deputy Defense Minister Army General Dmitry Bulgakov noted the professionalism and promptness of military plumbers. He also appreciated the promptness of moving the battalion out of its permanent deployment to the Crimea, the clarity of the actions of the commanders and personnel during the deployment of forces and equipment, the coordinated work of the units and services of the rear of the brigade of the anti-aircraft military unit and enterprises of Russian Railways.
Back in May, the 2014 of the year, the leadership of the Republic of Crimea understood that spot measures could not do and the task of water supply had to be solved on a large scale. It was decided to reanimate water intakes in the north of Crimea and ensure the supply of water from them to consumers using temporary waterways, river beds and CCMs, this decision was supported at the federal level. The issue of water supply is one of the key not only for the life of the Crimea, but also in the sphere of the organization of its defense. Back in Soviet times, three water intakes in the Dzhankoy and Nizhnegorsky districts were reconnoitered and partially equipped: Nezhinsky, Prostornensky, Novogrigoryevsky. Then, in connection with the construction of the CCM, they were drowned out and not exploited. In addition to exploration, it was necessary to drill additional wells at the rate of 12 for each water intake depth 113, 165 and 180 m (respectively), to install reservoirs for water accumulation, power plants and build water lines to the CCM.
This time, the Ministry of Defense set the task of the ZVO and the Eastern Military District (VVO) to allocate forces and means for the rapid construction of a water supply system in the Crimea in the winter-spring period 2015 of the year. Aircraft of the military transport aviation (BTA) from Buryatia to the Crimea urgently transferred personnel of the pipeline battalion of the BBB logistics brigade, about 300 military personnel. Materials and more 90 units of military and special equipment, the military department has transferred to the destination by rail.
This time, 100 military personnel, 40 military and special equipment units were separated from the pipeline battalion of the MTO ZVO brigade. The personnel were transferred from the place of permanent deployment in the Nizhny Novgorod region by means of the BTA to Belbek airport, then by road to the place of work. And the delivery of equipment and materials to the Crimea was charged to the railroad workers.
The main task of the military this time was the laying of water lines on a temporary pattern in the form of pipelines from the above-mentioned water intakes to the CCM.
The ZVO battalion completed its mission at the end of May 2015. The 6-kilometer water pipeline from the Nezhinsky water intake to the SCC channel was assembled by him, consisting of 24 field water supply lines with a total length of 124 km. Artesian wells with a depth of 180 m were drilled at the water intake itself. Its total maximum allowable productivity was 45 thousand cubic meters. m per day. Now from the Nezhinsky water intake water is supplied in the amount of 37 – 42 thousand cubic meters. m per day.
Back to the place of permanent deployment, the personnel were delivered on BTA aircraft. Technique moved under its own power mainly along country roads, in five columns, accompanied by military police and military traffic police.
The military pipelines of the BBO completed their work by mid-June and left for the place of permanent deployment. Their main task was to lay a temporary conduit from the reanimated Prostornensky and Novogrigoryevsky water intakes to the SCC. As a result, 24 lines of field trunk pipelines with a total length of 288 km were installed.
After the departure of the military work continued by contracting organizations. A test run of water from the Prostorno water intake was made on December 10.
PROSPECTS OF WATER SUPPLY
In the current year, according to the Ministry of Natural Resources, in April, the fullness of the reservoirs of the peninsula of both liquid and natural flow was again insufficient to forget about the possible occurrence of water shortages until the end of the year. In this regard, the Department of State Policy and Regulation in the Field of Water Resources, the Ministry of Ecology of Crimea are thinking about educational work with the population, aimed at minimizing water consumption in the region.
Ilya Razbash, head of the Public Relations Department at the Information and Analytical Center for the Development of the Water Management Complex, who headed this work, reasonably noted: “The Crimea is a water-deficient region, in which the idea of water conservation is particularly relevant. In previous years, while the canal was open, the level of water consumption on the peninsula per person increased to 700 liters per day. In the metropolis more or less established practice of consumption of 120-130 liters. Our task was to make useful knowledge about water saving not boring and understandable, the Enlightenment action "I am water" in the Crimea is quite popular among the local population and tourists, judging by social networks ”.
Torrential rains, which took place in the Crimea in late June - early July, significantly replenished the reservoir stock, now the peninsula is supplied with water. Well, this year was lucky, but what will happen next if the new winter passes again with little rainfall and the summer is dry? The resumption of the supply of water from the Dnieper is unlikely, in any case, in a visible perspective, you cannot count on it. The project of transferring water from such rivers as the Kuban and the Don to the peninsula is also recognized as untenable for many reasons and is not yet considered. Only one thing remains: Crimea must provide itself with water on its own.
According to experts, for the beginning it is necessary to introduce a monitoring system and rational water consumption for housing and utilities needs. In agriculture, it is preferable to switch to a significant degree on capillary irrigation, which will significantly reduce losses, and you will certainly have to abandon crops that require abundant irrigation. It is also necessary to prevent the inappropriate opening of fissure-caste aquifers, as happened during the development of the Kadykovsky open pit. The device of reservoirs should be approached more thoughtfully, taking into account the result of geological surveys and historical data. Among the dubious projects of the authorities, the Crimean hydrogeologists call the intention to create a reservoir with a volume of 20 million cubic meters. m on the Kokkozka River in order to transfer its waters to the Chernorechensky reservoir. According to experts, such a project offers unjustified costs, since the entire bed of the Kokkozka River is located below the Chernorechensky reservoir. In addition, it will cause a decrease in the mass of under-flow waters of the Belbek River, which can lead to negative consequences, including a decrease in the productivity of the Lyubimov water intake, which, like the Chernorechensky reservoir, is used to supply water to Sevastopol. That is, in all respects, the project looks meaningless.
According to the representative of the Ministry of Environment, all the wells ever drilled on the peninsula are registered and strictly controlled. In fact, it turned out that this is not quite true. Of those wells that are not exploited, some are closed, some are lost, and some of them are simply abandoned and not controlled by anyone. That is, in this area has yet to bring order. There are cases when out of the active, registered wells located near the coastline, water is taken above the norm - this is fraught with the formation of a depression crater, as a result of which the sea water is leaking into the aquifer.
All experts, without exception, point out the dilapidation of the system of water pipes, water lines and CCM, as a result of which the loss of water is 40%, and at times it reaches 50%.
Currently, there are three options for water supply of the Crimea. Some experts believe that the peninsula has sufficient water reserves, which, even in the driest years with proper organization of the water supply system, can completely cover all needs, with the proviso that it is necessary to abandon crops that require abundant watering in agriculture.
There is another option that Crimea can provide itself with fresh water only for some rather long time (up to 50 years), and then, if it will be possible, to return to supplying it from the Dnieper, otherwise it will be necessary to keep the pipeline from the mouth of the Don along the bottom of the Azov Sea to the Crimea.
Some experts came to the conclusion that the Crimea can provide itself with fresh water only with sufficiently abundant rainfall in the autumn-winter period. With the frequent recurrence of dry winter, even with the perfect organization of the water supply system, fresh water supplies in the peninsula will run out rather quickly, in less than a decade.
WHERE TO TAKE WATER
According to the Ministry of Natural Resources, in the mountainous Crimea there are 2605 high quality freshwater sources with a total flow rate of 10 350л / s, which is 326 million cubic meters per year. m, this water feeds the rivers of the peninsula and partially underground aquifers. Many of them are not used for water supply. A simple calculation gives encouraging data - from proven sources in the Crimea, you can get about 1,3 billion cubic meters. m per year. It also takes into account the water reserves in the largest artesian basins of the plain Crimea: Severo-Sivashsky (666 thousand cubic meters per day), Belogorsky (119 thousand cubic meters per day) and Alminsky (452,0 thousand cubic meters per day) .
Currently, the peninsula is supplied with water from reservoirs and underground sources. Already, the water deficit in the steppe and eastern parts of the Crimea was covered by the commissioning of three water intakes - Nezhinsky, Prostornensky and Novogrigoryevsky. Moreover, the water intake from them is still limited. According to the State Unitary Enterprise of the Republic of Kazakhstan “Krymgeology”, the proven water reserves in these horizons will be enough for 50 years. The Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources of Crimea Gennady Narayev assured that “The quality of water here is very good. Water from these wells corresponds to all drinking State Standards. ” He also said that water is still mainly supplied to the SCC from two water intakes - Nezhinsky and Prostorensky in the amount of 50 thousand m XXNX / day. (The total maximum capacity of these water intakes is 3 thousand m X NUMX / day).
In order to use the water resources of the peninsula more optimally, at the federal level, it was decided to create five more reservoirs. At the same time, Dmitry Kirillov, Director of the Department of State Policy and Regulation in the Field of Water Resources and Hydrometeorology of the Ministry of Natural Resources of Russia, assured that “the decision to build each of the five reservoirs will be made by the piece after carrying out design surveys and studying the feasibility of building on a particular river tributary.
According to the experts of RusHydro, the restoration of artesian water intakes explored in Soviet times, but “frozen”, should be continued with the start of the supply of Dnieper water. In addition to these measures, further water transfer from local rivers to the CCM is necessary. In addition, it was decided to expand the hydrogeological survey. By decision of the Russian government, 3,369 billion rubles was allocated from the federal budget. uninterrupted supply of drinking water and water for agricultural needs to the Crimean Federal District. In particular, 2,178 billion rubles. The Ministry of Natural Resources was allocated for transfers to the Crimea and Sevastopol and 1,194 billion rubles. - Minstroy for similar transfers.
According to a group of local geologists, the search for water in the mountainous part of the Crimea should be conducted below the level previously explored. They believe that fissure-karst and fissure waters are present in the region in a much larger volume than is known now, because previously exploration was carried out only within the zone of increased fracturing at a depth from 50 to 850 m. It is also necessary to conduct work aimed at intercepting crackle -carst waters submarine discharge, which will give a significant amount of fresh water, which is now irretrievably diverted into the sea.A very interesting document appeared in my hands - the concept of water supply for the city of Sevastopol, in which local geologists advise on prospecting several promising areas that will completely cover the needs of the city in fresh water. The emphasis is on additional studies of already explored sources and on the continuation of the search for new sources at a depth of up to 1 thousand meters, taking into account the locality and multi-layeredness of aquifers.
Specialists also propose to desalinate water and use treated wastewater, of course, only for technical needs.
DANGER OF THE SECOND CRIMEAN WAR
The experience of the First Crimean War of 1853 – 1856, for obvious reasons, can only be considered in general terms when it comes to the possibility of the Crimean military group to withstand the likely aggression. The experience of the Civil and Great Patriotic War can also be used only partially. Open participation of the forces of the alliance in the fighting in the Crimea is unlikely. The General Staff of Ukraine, according to President Poroshenko, has developed a number of strategic plans, obviously, among them there is a plan to capture the Crimea. According to the logic of things in it should be provided several areas of invasion. As an option, a naval landing on the coast of the northwestern and northeastern Crimea, the capture of the Kerch Peninsula, the forcing of the shallow Sivash Bay and attempts to break through the Perekopsky Isthmus, Chongar and the Arabat Spit can be made. Crimea should be ready for a temporary naval blockade from the Azov Sea and the destruction of all communications connecting it with mainland Russia through the Kerch Bay.
The plan should include several stages of execution. At the first stage of the sabotage of reconnaissance and reconnaissance groups (DRGs), the task of which will be very broad: the destruction of military facilities, first of all, the BRK, missile defense, air defense systems; organization or imitation of a rebel movement; act of terrorism, sabotage. The second echelon on civilian boats will be delivered to various points of the peninsula. Most likely, NATO provides for the supply of equipment and weapons for the Ukrainian Armed Forces by individual member countries of the alliance, the use of parts from the Polish and Baltic “volunteers” (as was observed in the Donbass events), since Ukraine will not be able to gather enough forces to execute this plan.
The main stage of the “seizure of the Crimea” will undoubtedly be the informational part of the operation - the impact on the world community in order to initiate the process of further political isolation of Russia as an aggressor.
WATER SUPPLY OF GROUPING TROOPS IN THE CRIMEA
The issue of water supply for Russian troops and fleet in the Crimea is by no means idle. Engineering services must provide water for places of permanent and temporary deployment, areas of concentration of military units and formations, CP and ZKP. The water supply facilities of military structures should be protected and used only by the military.
Unfortunately, there are negative examples. At Cape Fiolent (Sevastopol), two artesian wells intended for the water supply of military formations are used by local horticultural associations. Water intake from them goes above the norm, as a result a depressive funnel is formed, because of which seawater is leaking into the wells.
The organization of a separate water supply system for the troops is expensive and time consuming, but you must admit that it is necessary. We are talking about the defense of the Crimea.
Water for the needs of the military in the near future will need more due to the fact that lately the forces and means of the military group of the peninsula have been increasing. Air defense and missile defense systems of the peninsula are actively developing. The anti-aircraft missile regiments have already received the Pantsir-S anti-aircraft missile-gun systems and are reinforced with two C-300PMU regiments. In August, the 18 air defense regiment will receive C-400 complexes. In Crimea, it is planned to deploy at least a regiment of interceptors Su-27.
The frigate of the 11356 project Admiral Grigorovich, two small rocket ships of the 21631 project (the Serpukhov and the Green Dol) have already arrived in Sevastopol. Two more ships will be sent to the Crimea until the end of 2016. In total, six small rocket ships of the 21631 project “Buyan-M. On the peninsula deployed battalions of DBK "Bastion".
At military airfields in Guards and Kache are deployed front-line bombers and reconnaissance Su-24, amphibious Be-12, combat and transport helicopters. The 27-I mixed air division is being formed on the peninsula. So far, it includes only two aviation regiments. The 62 Fighter Regiment is based at the Belbek airfield, in its fleet four Su-30 and ten Su-27CM aircraft. There is information about the placement of long-range Tu-22М3 bombers on the peninsula. The 39 helicopter regiment is based in Dzhankoy, which has Ka-52 and Mi-28Н strike machines, as well as transport helicopters.
96 military units and units of the Ministry of Defense are deployed in Crimea. Among them, the 810-I separate brigade of marines, 126-I separate brigade of coastal defense. Recently, two units were formed - an artillery regiment and a separate regiment of radiation, chemical and biological protection.
The 112-I separate brigade of troops of the Russian Guard is deployed on the peninsula. Strengthening groups will continue. The realities are, if Russia cannot stay in the Crimea, it will turn into a US military base.
The issue of comprehensive provision of the peninsula is complex, and fresh water is one of its key components.
Information