Mitryasova, O. CHRONICLES OF THIRST: DOCUMENTING MYKOLAIV'S WATER SECURITY CHALLENGES AND SOLUTIONS IN A WAR-AFFECTED CITY: Monograph. Mykolaiv: PMBSNU, 2026, 124 p.

CHRONICLES OF THIRST: DOCUMENTING MYKOLAIV'S WATER SECURITY CHALLENGES AND SOLUTIONS IN A WAR-AFFECTED CITY 1.3. BIG WATER IN THE FRONTLINE CITY June 6, 2023 was the day when the water crisis in Mykolaiv took on a new, surreal dimension. The explosion of the dam of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant resonated in the city not because of the taps — where salt water had prevailed for more than a year — but because of the sudden and threatening rise in the level of the rivers. At that time, Mykolaiv had already pushed the enemy away from its gates, but remained within the reach of missile strikes and, most importantly, was in a state of prolonged water blockade. The explosion of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant on June 6, 2023 was an event for Mykolaiv that finally cemented the status of the city as a "water island". Although the main blow of the elements fell on the Kherson region, the geographical location of Mykolaiv, covering the Southern Buh and Inhul, made it a direct participant in this disaster. When the river flows backwards The morning of June 6, 2023 began for Mykolaiv residents with alarming reports of a rise in the water level. Due to the fact that the Dnieper and the Southern Buh have a common estuary, the colossal volume of water that escaped from the Kakhovka reservoir created the so-called "back-up effect". The great water of the Dnieper did not have time to go out to sea and began to "press" on the Southern Buh and Inhul, forcing their waters to rise and overflow. During the first days, the water level in Mykolaiv increased by more than a meter. It wasn't an instant tsunami, it was a slow, inexorable rise. The townspeople watched as the water gradually absorbed the lower embankment, flooded the beaches of the Namyv microdistrict and approached the shores of the Yacht Club. In some areas, the water rose 105 cm above the zero mark. This led to the fact that not only recreation areas, but also part of coastal communications was under water (Fig. 1.26). This photographic evidence (Fig. 1.26-1.28), taken on June 8, 2023, captures one of the most surreal moments in the military history of Mykolaiv. The picture shows the territory of the Mykolaiv Yacht Club, the oldest in Ukraine, which, instead of the usual harbor for sailboats, has turned into a flooded area, where the border between the river and the city has finally disappeared. In the photo, the alley of the yacht club, completely covered with a water column. This is a direct consequence of the explosion of the dam of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant, which occurred two days earlier. Due to the back-up effect, the water from the estuary rose so much that the Southern Buh literally "went for a walk" along the city embankments. 45