Groundwater Quality in Donbass Basin of Ukraine: Pollution Sources Identification and Water Resources Planning and Management

Groundwater contamination is one of the main sicknesses of Ukrainian environment. The present change of the economical situation in Ukraine requires a more complete assessment of the state of groundwater resources, including environmental impact assessment of groundwater withdrawal and more detail description of groundwater contamination sources. In relation to intensive mining and large number of heavy industry sites the Donbass region is the most contaminated part of Ukraine and maybe one of the most contaminated regions in the world. The threat of groundwater pollution is coming from different point and non point sources of contamination such as dumpsites and landfills, wastewater lagoons, sediments ponds, coal waste heaps, atmospheric precipitation, and from agricultural production. Severe contamination of groundwater is evident in many places and it is expected that many new cases of groundwater contamination will be discovered in the nearest future after massive coal mine closure, when the deeply laying heavily contaminated groundwater is moving upwards. There is a high risk that large areas will be flooded in response to the raise of groundwater table, and drinking water wells will be negative effected by intrusion insufficient mine water quality. An assessment of the threat to the water resources from different sources of contamination and recommendations for essential steps in improvement of water resources planning and management in the Donetsk and Lugansk Oblast of Donbass region is under discussion in the report.