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To effectively manage river basins and improve the ecological status of water bodies in Ukraine, a website with an interactive map has been created. This development was implemented by IT volunteers from ITU Member company EPAM Ukraine ‘pro bono’ for the State Water Resources Agency with the support of WWF-Ukraine. It will provide public access to information about government-approved management plans for nine river basins.
The river basins mentioned include the Danube, Dniester, Dnieper, Don, Southern Bug, Vistula, rivers of Azov, Black Sea and Crimea. The strategic goal for each plan is to achieve or maintain a ‘good’* ecological status of surface and groundwater bodies. Each management plan includes a set of measures, which can now be easily tracked.
The convenient interactive map allows users to learn more about surface/groundwater bodies, track actions in river basin areas, their costs and the projected ecological goals. This solution will also ensure transparency for other government bodies to prevent duplication or misallocation of funds. It also complies with standards in the framework of Ukraine’s European integration.
Despite the war, Ukraine has made significant progress in implementing the Water Framework Directive. We have defined river basins, created basin councils, reformed the water monitoring system according to European requirements and established 4 modern laboratories. The adoption of river basin management plans is one of the indicators of Ukraine’s fulfillment of its Eurointegration commitments in environmental protection and, in particular, in water resources management and a precondition for Ukraine’s EU accession. Work is ongoing, and with the help of experts and scientists, we will achieve the planned goals,
— said Ihor Hopchak, Acting Head of the State Water Agency.
The technical implementation of the project was carried out by a team of volunteers from EPAM over three months. The team consisted of seven specialists: FrontEnd and BackEnd developers, DevOps and BA professionals, a designer, a project manager and a coordinator. The project was based on similar developments by European organisations and used modern technologies such as Java, React, Mapbox, Leaflet and Google Cloud Storage. The development became a quick solution to meet the current tasks, but in the future, it can be supplemented with additional functionality.
We are proud to be part of this project and apply our technical expertise to build transparent and understandable processes in the country. This website and map are essential tools for effective river basin management and improving the ecological status of water bodies. It is also an opportunity for Ukrainians to monitor the work in their communities and get involved in such initiatives,
said Serhiy Teslya, Project Manager.
The work of volunteers once again demonstrates that the IT community uses its skills to solve important environmental issues and contribute to sustainable development. To date, the volunteer team at EPAM consists of over 600 participants. Since 2022, they have implemented about 40 developments for the benefit of the state and charitable organisations.
Technologies must and should be implemented in modern Ukrainian governance to solve strategic tasks, such as environmental issues,
— adds Serhiy Teslya, Project Manager.
‘Good’ is one of the possible assessments of water status in Ukraine under the EU Water Framework Directive, which includes five status classes: ‘excellent,’ ‘good,’ ‘satisfactory,’ ‘bad’ and ‘very bad.’
