Lesser evil: construction of a seawater desalination plant began in Crimea

“The processes are all running, I am with all my colleagues [in contact]”, - Aksyonov said. He believes that desalination of sea water will cause less damage to the environment than using underground sources. Moreover, such projects have not yet been implemented in Russia.

However, there is an opinion that desalinated sea water is harmful to human health, since heavy isotopes can remain in it. That is, it can be drunk and used for cooking only after expensive cleaning. Otherwise, the use of such water can provoke cancer. For example, in Kazakhstan's Aktau, where residents have been supplied with desalinated sea water for more than 40 years, the percentage of cancer patients is one of the highest in the country. Desalinated water is also considered harmful in Israel. “The situation in Israel with the drinking water supply develops directly, as in a terrible detective story: the bandits who seized the water supply and our money tied us, the people of Israel, hand and foot and forcibly pour into our mouths a slow-acting poison - desalinated sea water, which retains an increased concentration of deuterium and heavy oxygen isotopes, radioactive and, possibly, highly toxic substances and devoid of its own bioenergy”, - wrote Dr. Benzion Telyaner.

Let us recall that the problem with water supply in Crimea arose in 2014, when Ukraine cut off the water supply through the North Crimean Canal. This year, amid drought, the available sources of drinking water supply in the republic have become shallow. In particular, at the end of November in Simferopol and the Simferopol region hot water supply was stopped - to save money. The same measure is planned to be introduced in Evpatoria.

Aksyonov announced at the end of September that a unique desalination system would be built in Crimea. The installation will be erected on the seashore in the village of Nikolaevka. From there to Simferopol there is a direct stretch of 30 km. Construction will take two years and is estimated at 8.2 billion rubles.

In addition, in October, the Russian government allocated about 5 billion rubles to Crimea for the construction and overhaul of water supply facilities.