__NOTOC__ Sasyk, or Kunduk (, , ), is a lagoon or liman in southern Ukraine, near the

Danube Delta The Danube Delta (, ; , ) is the second largest river delta in Europe, after the Volga Delta, and is the best preserved on the continent. Occurring where the Danube, Danube River empties into the Black Sea, most of the Danube Delta lies in Romania ...

. It is a Ramsar listed wetland site important for migrating, breeding and moulting birds. About 25,000 pairs of wetland birds make their nests there (an increase of 15,000 since 2000) and seasonal conglomerations of birds are up to 100,000 individuals. The area of the lagoon is , and has a depth up to . Until 1978 the lagoon was separated into two parts: northern brackishwater area, including the rivers Cogâlnic and Sarata, and a southern marine area. The lagoon was separated from the sea by a wide

sandbar In oceanography, geomorphology, and geoscience, a shoal is a natural submerged ridge, bank, or bar that consists of, or is covered by, sand or other unconsolidated material, and rises from the bed of a body of water close to the surface or ...

Dam and reduced salinity

In 1978, a concrete dam was built on the

and the lagoon was connected to the

Danube River The Danube ( ; see also other names) is the second-longest river in Europe, after the Volga in Russia. It flows through Central and Southeastern Europe, from the Black Forest south into the Black Sea. A large and historically important riv ...

by a

canal Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface ...

, through which fresh flood waters come. This has adversely changed the

salinity Salinity () is the saltiness or amount of salt (chemistry), salt dissolved in a body of water, called saline water (see also soil salinity). It is usually measured in g/L or g/kg (grams of salt per liter/kilogram of water; the latter is dimensio ...

in the lake, and this plus disturbances from recreation and commercial fishing activities have influenced the

habitat In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species' habitat can be seen as the physical manifestation of its ...

for

wildfowl The Anatidae are the biological family of water birds that includes ducks, geese, and swans. The family has a cosmopolitan distribution, occurring on all the world's continents except Antarctica. These birds are adapted for swimming, floating o ...

. The aim of this Soviet dam project was to convert the lagoon to a fresh water lake to use for irrigation. However, this failed and the use of water from Sasyk resulted in the salinization of about of land, with associated detrimental impact on crops, and mineralization of ground water and wells. The project ended in ecological, social and economic disaster. A 2007 report stated that the lagoon had become too dangerous for swimming because of pollution, including

pesticides Pesticides are substances that are used to pest control, control pest (organism), pests. They include herbicides, insecticides, nematicides, fungicides, and many others (see table). The most common of these are herbicides, which account for a ...

and

heavy metals upright=1.2, Crystals of lead.html" ;"title="osmium, a heavy metal nearly twice as dense as lead">osmium, a heavy metal nearly twice as dense as lead Heavy metals is a controversial and ambiguous term for metallic elements with relatively h ...

. The water is described as greenish with an unpleasant smell. Many now favour breaking the dam and reconnecting the lagoon with the sea. In 2022, Ukrainian-American filmmaker Andrea Odezynska's documentary film ''Return Sasyk To The Sea'' was released, detailing the history of the region and efforts to restore the damaged wetlands.

Biodiversity

, the total number of breeding waterbirds in the lagoon is 10,000 pairs, and an estimated 100,000 individuals visit the lagoon each year on

migration Migration, migratory, or migrate may refer to: Human migration * Human migration, physical movement by humans from one region to another ** International migration, when peoples cross state boundaries and stay in the host state for some minimum le ...

Dam and reduced salinity

Biodiversity

References

Further reading