oa Justification of Groundwater Share in Water Supply to the Population of Ukraine

At present, the share of groundwater in the water supply of the population in Ukraine as a whole is only about 20%, and in recent decades there has been a steady downward trend in groundwater extraction. The main reason for this is the decline in industrial production and population reduction, including as a result of wartime migration.

At the same time, the issue of drinking water supply became extremely acute in a number of regions of Ukraine during the war years. It became obvious that water supply should be provided from various sources, with the main source being groundwater, protected from pollution and as close as possible to consumers.

In European countries, the share of groundwater in water supply varies considerably, but basically amounts to 65%. The ratio of groundwater and surface water in each country is determined by a number of factors, the main of which are the quantity and quality of water resources, which are determined by geological structure and hydrogeological conditions, as well as anthropogenic factors: development of territories, their functional use, anthropogenic pressure, and thus water demand and consumption volumes, indicators of water and other environmental components pollution, etc. In Poland and Germany, close to Ukraine, the share of groundwater in the water supply of the population is about 70%, in Slovakia − 80%, and in Hungary − 96%.

It is obvious that increasing the share of groundwater will certainly contribute to improving the life safety and health of the Ukrainian population. However, given the complex and heterogeneous natural and anthropogenic conditions of our country, the share of groundwater in water supply cannot be the same in different regions. The recommended share of groundwater in domestic and drinking water supply for each region should be determined taking into account the availability of resources, uniformity of their distribution and the possibility of supplying large settlements and industrial nodes. At the same time, priority attention should be given to quality and protection from pollution of surface and groundwater.