World Water Day: Special Water Management

Every year on March 22, the world community celebrates World Water Day, which was started in 1993 by the UN General Assembly to draw attention to problems related to water resources.

World Water Day is an opportunity to remind humanity of the critical importance of water resources for the environment and the development of society and and is intended to raise awareness of the importance of preserving the ecological ecologically clean state of water resources.

Water resources occupy a special place among all natural resources. This is due to the fact that water is increasingly involved into production: in agriculture and industry, communal and household economy, development of recreational and sports activities, establishment of an extensive network of health and medical facilities, etc.

In Ukraine, the main consumers of water resources are industry – 48% of total consumption (in particular, electricity, metallurgy, chemical industry), agriculture – 40%, and 12% is for housing and communal services.

Water consumption in economic activity and production exceeds the total consumption of all other types of resources and products. For example: for the production of 1 ton of oil, it is necessary to spend at least 10 m3 of water, for the production of 1 ton of steel – 100 m3, 1 ton of paper – 250 m3. Development of mankind is connected with development of water management systems and the growth of water consumption. On average, industrial water consumption has increased 30-fold over the past 100 years.

Increased water consumption also leads to increase wastewater discharge. To protect rivers from pollution, a tenfold dilution of even treated sewage is necessary. Thus, at this historical stage of society’s development,  normal functioning and development of the economy can be realized only under conditions of effective management of natural resources.

Water conservation refers to human activity aimed at preserving, restoring and improving the state of natural water reserves on Earth.

The Water Code states that all waters shall be protected protected from pollution, clogging and depletion, which cause harm to human health, reduce fish stocks, worsen water supply conditions and lead to other undesirable phenomena as a result of changes in the physical, chemical and hydrobiological properties of water and a decrease its self-cleaning properties.

The protection of water resources is also a serious problem for our country. The most valuable sources of water supply for the population – underground water – are also subject to pollution. The main sources of pollution of these waters are the inefficient operation of treatment facilities, hazardous waste storage sites, tailings storage fields, industrial waste landfills, infiltration of pollution from industrial and urban areas, and filtration from polluted rivers. The most common chemical and bacterial pollution.

Among the main sources of pollution of natural waters are industrial and municipal effluents, agricultural chemicals, animal husbandry effluents, decomposition products of blue-green algae, “thermal pollution” from thermal power plants, nuclear power plants, radioactive waste, and others.

Modern development of industry, agriculture, and transport is accompanied by a large discharge of polluted waters Without adequate measures to reduce water pollution, natural dilution and self-purification becomes insufficient. High concentrations of harmful impurities prevent self-purification of water and its pollution is intensively progressing.

Therefore, in order to maintain the purity of water bodies it is necessary:

• effective use;
• ensure complete treatment of urban and industrial effluents
• to improve and change the technology of industrial production; – develop and implement low-water and water-free technologies;
• widely introduce recycled water supply, increase the reuse of purified
• apply rational methods and techniques of using fertilizers and pesticides;
• develop and implement of State water protection plans on the river scale and reservoirs, taking into account the prospective location of productive forces and means of production.

Water use can be of two types – general and special.

According to Article 47 of the Water Code of Ukraine, general water use is carried out by citizens to meet their needs (swimming, sailing on pleasure boats, recreational and sport fishing, drinking water for animals, taking water from water bodies without the use of structures or technical devices and from wells) free of charge, without securing water bodies by individual persons and without providing appropriate permits.

According to Art. 48 of the Water Code of Ukraine, special water use is water abstraction from water bodies using structures or technical devices, use of water and  discharge of pollutants into water bodies, including  withdrawal of water and discharge of pollutants with return water using channels. Special water use, water users can carry out only if they have the appropriate permit.

Issuance of a permit for special water use is carried out by territorial bodies of the central executive body that implements state policy in the field of water management development – state water agencies in the regions of Ukraine.

Issuance of a permit for special water use is carried out at the request of the water user with a mandatory monthly normative calculation of water use and drainage and justification of the need for water.

In order to avoid mistakes, submission of an incomplete package of documents, non-compliance with the requirements of laws and regulations adopted in accordance with them, errors in water management balances, specialists of the Company “Center LTD” perform all  necessary water flow and drainage calculations for you with full support of the works in the involved state bodies to obtain a permit for special water use.

Contacts for providing an individual proposal for water use and drainage calculations and substantiating the need for water: 79026, Lviv,  41 Sakharova St, 380 96 781 05 37, [email protected]