EU4EMBLAS is supporting a study of bacteriological pollution in the Black Sea coastal waters caused by the Nova Kakhovka Dam destruction

The destruction of Nova Kakhovka dam, located on the Dnipro River, resulted in an unprecedented release of chemical, physical and biological contaminants to the Black Sea waters. The recent reports of Ukrainian authorities highlight the presence of bacteriological contamination. However, its abundance and dissemination are still an issue to study.

With the support of the EU4EMBLAS project, in the first week after the incident, when the flood wave reached the Black Sea (12-13 June 2023), surface seawater samples were taken in different areas along the Black Sea Northern and Northwestern coasts.

The four coastal sites were sampled, including Ochakiv (2 locations), Odesa (2 locations), as well as the Danube River (Reni town), and Constanta (Romania), whichwere selected as a reference for comparison with the antibiotic resistance genes’ abundance in Ukrainian waters.

The antibiotic resistance genes’ abundance will indicate the scale of the bacteriological contamination of the sea waters.

The study includes DNA extraction, qPCR analysis in order to calculate the antibiotic resistance genes’ abundance in the samples. Additionally, the diversity of microbial communities will be scanned for the presence of pathogenic bacteria.

The results of the study allow us to quantify bacteriological pollution caused by the incident and to understand the extent of the disaster caused.

The conclusions from  the study will be ready soon, and we will share them on our communication channels.