Galyna Voropay’s research while affiliated with Institute Of Water Problems And Land Reclamation and other places

One of the rational ways of energy saving is to use the heat of wastewater from energy companies for open ground heating and cultivation crops. The most significant sources of heat are thermal and nuclear power plants that produce low-thermal waters of 28–35°C. Heating of the ground with the use of circulating warm water allows to increase temperature at all points of the soil profile. The maximum thermal effect from heating ground is observed at the depth of pipe heaters (7.3– 11.1°C). Ground heating allows to extend the growing season for crops by 3–4 weeks, which can expedite harvesting and thus maximise the harvest. In natural moisture conditions, ground heating does not lead to significant reduction of moisture reserves in the active layer throughout the growing period. There is a redistribution of moisture in a soil profile. It decreases in the zone of pipe heaters and redistributes toward the top. The formation of the nutrient regime changes, the content of mobile phosphorus and potassium, and nitrate nitrogen increases, whereas the content of ammonia nitrogen is reduced. Ground heating is a new special heat reclamation technique. It allows not only to control temperature of the agricultural crop environment, but also to dissipate heat in the ground, and promote the utilisation of waste heat and the stabilisation of the environment.

The paper focuses on research on improving the water supply of drainage systems of humid areas in the context of climate change. The aim of the research is to elaborate on the ways for increasing the available water supply of drainage systems and restoring active water regulation on reclaimed lands in a changing climate. The paper presents the results of the research on improving the available water supply of drainage systems in the humid zone of Ukraine in a changing climate. It was specified in the face of increasing water scarcity providing the optimal water regime regulation on drained lands is possible due to the increase in the available water supply of drainage systems. It can be achieved thanks to the accumulating capacity of reclaimed areas, namely usage of free soil capacity of the aeration zone and open canals, accumulation of water reserve volumes in storage tanks due to the accumulation of surface and drainage runoff. Taking into account the design features of different types of drainage systems, existing water management technologies, characteristics of water sources and their close proximity to the drainage systems, the technological schemes of water intake from rivers and reservoirs, and its supply to the drained areas for irrigation needs were developed. In a face of increasing water scarcity, it is also expedient to apply resource-saving technologies to control the available water supply for crops.