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Kakhovka Reservoir and Kakhovka HPP

The Kakhovka Reservoir and the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant (HPP) on the Dnieper River were among the largest irrigation and hydraulic structures of the 20th century. The reservoir was created to provide drinking water and irrigate tens of thousands of hectares of agricultural land in Southern Ukraine and the Crimean Peninsula.

Overview

The idea of constructing the Kakhovka hydroelectric complex arose in the early post-war years and was discussed by the Soviet leadership and scientific institutions. In late September 1950, a Decree of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) and the USSR Council of Ministers was issued: "On the Construction of the Kakhovka HPP on the Dnieper River, and the South Ukrainian and North Crimean Canals." On November 26, 1950, the government of the Ukrainian SSR (Decree of the Council of Ministers of the UkrSSR and Central Committee of the CP(b)U) launched priority survey and design work. Even though the construction was proclaimed an All-Union "construction site of communism," and Crimean Oblast was at that time part of the russian federation (RSFSR), the Union authorities shifted the entire financial, technical, and human burden of implementing this large-scale project exclusively onto the shoulders of the Ukrainian SSR.

The Kakhovka Sea stretched 230 km in length, covering an area of 2,155 km². A number of major trunk canals originate from it: the North Crimean Canal, the Kakhovka Canal, and the Dnieper–Kryvyi Rih Canal. The construction provided a colossal economic benefit for the Crimean Peninsula; however, for Ukraine itself, the creation of the reservoir was accompanied by severe ecological, economic, and cultural-historical losses.

Key Details / Subtopics

  • Main Parameters: Length — 230 km, surface area — 2,155 km². Originates near Nova Kakhovka (Kherson Oblast) and encompasses areas of Zaporizhzhia, Dnipropetrovsk, and Kherson Oblasts.
  • Hydraulic Network: Serves as the main water source for the North Crimean Canal, Kakhovka Canal, and Dnieper–Kryvyi Rih Canal.
  • Political and Administrative Context: The decision to build was approved by Decree in September 1950. The UkrSSR Council of Ministers Decree of November 26, 1950 mandated Ukrainian institutes to begin hydrogeological surveys of southern oblasts of the UkrSSR and northern districts of Crimea. The RSFSR government carried out no work whatsoever in Crimea between 1950 and 1954.
  • Organization and Scale of Construction: Over 12,000 specialists, 1,110 vehicles, 74 dredges, 14 steam locomotives, 100 bulldozers, and 75 cranes worked on the construction of Kakhovka HPP and Nova Kakhovka. The Chief Administration "Ukrvodbud" established three training-production complexes in Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, and Melitopol in 1951.
  • Chronology of Commissioning: Flooding of the reservoir was completed in 1954; Kakhovka HPP began operation in 1955 (6th turbine generator in 1956). In 1976, the Kakhovka Irrigation Canal was opened (securing water supply to Berdyansk and irrigation of 195,000 hectares by 1985).
  • South Ukrainian Canal: Concurrently with the declared Kakhovka construction, Soviet propaganda hyped the South Ukrainian Canal project, which served as a smokescreen and was never built.
  • Flooding of Ancestral Lands: Creating the reservoir required flooding several million hectares of the most fertile lands along the Dnieper in Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson Oblasts.
  • Submersion of the Great Meadow: A unique Cossack heritage vanished beneath the waters — the sacred Great Meadow (Velykyi Luh), nearly 100 ancient Cossack villages, winter homesteads, and hamlets.
  • Ecological and Cultural Cost of Irrigation: Destruction of unique Dnieper floodplains (the river's natural filter), waterlogging of mines and settlements, coastal erosion, massive cyanobacterial blooms, and deterioration of water quality.