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 2.2. HYDROCHEMICAL PASSPORT OF THE ESTUARY AND SPATIO- TEMPORAL MAP OF THE WATER CRISIS Why does water need a "passport" When we talk about the water crisis in Mykolaiv, we often use the concepts of "salty" or "dirty". However, for scientists and engineers who are developing a strategy for the restoration of the city until 2026, these words are not enough. They need a "hydrochemical passport" — a detailed document that records the dynamics of changes in each chemical element in time and space. The study, conducted by a group of scientists from the Petro Mohyla Black Sea National University, became the foundation for understanding how exactly hostilities and man-made disasters transformed the water area of the Southern Buh, Ingul and Buh estuaries. Methodology and Four Vectors of Monitoring Assessing the state of surface waters in the frontline city required the creation of a dynamic monitoring network that would cover four strategic locations. Each of them is a separate section in the "diagnosis" of the city's waterway. The scientific study was based on regular sampling at four representative points that allow you to trace the path of water from a relatively clean area to the epicenter of urban and marine influence (Fig. 2.3). Point No. 1: ST "Lazurne", Vesnyanska territorial community (46.991186, 31.876144). This point is located upstream from the main urban area. It serves as a kind of "background" indicator. Studies here allow us to understand the quality of water that approaches Mykolaiv without having yet absorbed the main volume of urban wastewater and the consequences of the destruction of internal infrastructure. This is a point of comparison: everything that appears in the water downstream is already a direct "contribution" of the war and the man-made collapse of the city. Point No. 2: Nizhnyaya Naberezhnaya microdistrict (46.980002, 31.985235). This is the heart of the city, the area of the Ingul Bridge and the confluence of rivers. Here Ingul becomes part of the urban landscape, facing the densest buildings and a network of communications. It is here that the most complex indicators for the block of specific toxic action were recorded. Concrete embankments and bridge structures, under conditions of aggressive chemical composition of water, begin to "give" heavy metals 74