Eli5: Where will the water that was in the Kakhovka reservoir go?

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Of course now that it’s all released, it’s entering the water table down stream. Will this lead to more rain anywhere? Swampier conditions? Will it be completely unnoticeable after a couple weeks aside from the flood damage, water shortages, etc?

What will the eco system in the area that used to be covered by the reservoir be like in the short to medium term?

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2 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

Like any other flood… the water rises but then eventually goes down once the mass of water has passed. The water (and flood debris) will end up in the Black Sea and debris has been washing up in Odesa coastline. The Black Sea itself is huge enough that any rise will be negligible.

Anonymous 0 Comments

A good portion of the water will (has, or is en route) flow downstream and eventually end up in the ocean (Black Sea). Or, pretty much where it would have all ended up anyway even if the dam hadn’t been destroyed, but as a big pulse instead of a steady discharge.

The now-exposed reservoir bottom will probably behave much as any waste/cleared area would, and get invaded by opportunistic vegetation. Return to somewhat natural conditions over the years, starting as some sort of meadow-like conditions, and if left alone, slowly become forested. Details will vary but the general process will be like that if they do not rebuild the dam and reflood the lands.

The pics I have seen of the former floor of the reservoir show dried mudflats. Wildflowers and other rapid spreaders will invade and start to cover the ground over the next few months, but won’t likely be quick enough to prevent a lot of erosion in the now-exposed lands. There might be localized wetlands that develop. Depends on the local topography and the way that water is entering the area (rates and volumes, and how punctuated the events would be). The big point is that the exposed grounds will likely be fairly dry until enough vegetation covers it and makes runoff slow down and keeps evaporation rates low.

Although the water table will definitely change (lower down to the existing level of water in the river, eventually) now that vast areas of once-recharge have been lost, groundwater flow is typically way slower than surface runoff rates, like tens of meters per year, give or take (depends on the type of material and muddy silt is generally pretty slow to movement of fluids), rather than the meters per minute or faster that is common for surface waterways.