If the Crimea relies on its own water resources—without Dnipro water from mainland Ukraine—it will only be able to satisfy the needs of less than half the population of the peninsula. Mykhailo Romashchenko, Director of the Institute of Water Problems and Land Reclamation reported this assessment as a national security issue on Ukrainian TV.

"There are 15 reservoirs with a capacity of 450 million cubic meters, which are now filled to about 100 million cubic meters. If we calculate according to the needs, then we can talk about one million people,” Romashchenko said. According to the Director, there is a high imbalance between the need for water resources and their supply in the Crimea.

"We have made calculations for provisioning water to Ukraine’s different regions. In the Crimea, the figure is 380 cubic meters per person per year but according to the UN 1,700 cubic meters per person per year is the norm. That is why we classified the Crimea as a region with catastrophically low provision of water resources,” Romashchenko said.

According to Krymstat, the population of the Crimea at the beginning of 2016 was 2,323,369 permanent residents.

After the Russian annexation of the Crimea, Ukraine discontinued supplying water to the peninsula through the North Crimean Canal that connects the main Dnipro river bed with the island. Ukraine used to provide for 85% of Crimean fresh water needs through this canal.