We already know that the breach of the Kakhovka dam has affected people’s homes and supplies of fresh water.

But there are other environmental concerns too.

We’ve reported before on the importance of agriculture in Ukraine – to its own economy and to world food supplies, particularly with regard to staples such as grain.

Ukraine’s Agriculture Ministry estimates that 10,000 hectares (24,000 acres) of farmland are underwater in the part of Kherson province controlled by Ukraine, and “many times more than that” in territory occupied by Russia.

The collapse of the dam has left 94% of irrigation systems in Kherson, 74% in Zaporizhzhia and 30% in Dnipro regions “without a source of water”, the ministry says, adding that this could see agricultural fields in southern Ukraine “perhaps turning into deserts”.

What next for the dam and reservoir?

Before its collapse, the Nova Kakhovka dam was the largest reservoir in Ukraine in terms of volume.

It is the last of the six Soviet-era dams on the Dnipro River, a major waterway running through southeastern Ukraine. It supplied water for much of the country’s southeastern region, as well as the Crimean peninsula annexed by Russia in 2014.

Should the Ukrainians attempt to repair the damage – a risky and difficult undertaking given the constantly-moving frontlines in this unpredictable war – or should they allow the region to return to the arid plain it was in before the dam was built 70 years ago?

Wildlife could take a decade to adjust

Some experts have said it could take a decade for the flora and fauna to return and adjust – and even longer for the area’s human population.

In the farming community of Maryinske they are searching for records of old wells which can be unearthed, cleaned and analysed to see if the water can still be used.

Village mayor Dmytro Neveselyi said: “Today and tomorrow, we’ll be able to provide the population with drinking water.”

But after that?

“The canal that supplied our water reservoir has also stopped flowing.”

Kateryna Filiuta, an expert in protected habitats for the Ukraine Nature Conservation Group, said: “The worst consequences will probably not affect us directly – not me, not you – but rather our future generations.”

Neglect of the system

The six dams along the Dnipro were designed to work together, adjusting to each other as water levels rose and fell across the seasons. But when Russia seized the Kakhovka Dam, the system fell into neglect.

It’s not clear if it was deliberate or careless, but they allowed water levels to fluctuate without control – levels were very low in winter and hit record highs in spring.

‘The water is leaving before our eyes’

Ihor Medunov is a hunting and fishing guide. His work was put on hold when the war began but he stayed on his island compound.

After the dam breach, the water was lapping into his living room but now the waves are a muddy walk away. Fish and water birds have been left at risk by the draining – so has his livelihood.

He told The Associated Press: “The water is leaving before our eyes.

“Everything that was in my house, what we worked for all our lives, it’s all gone.

“First it drowned, then, when the water left, it rotted.”

Landmines, oil and pesticides

There are also other dangers – the flooding following the dam’s collapse has uprooted landmines, torn through weapons caches and carried an estimated 150 tons of machine oil into the Black Sea.

The flow of the water used to carry the runoff of chemicals and pesticides that settled in the mud at the bottom but this now risks turning into poisonous dust with the arrival of summer, according to Eugene Simonov, an environmental scientist with the Ukraine War Environmental Consequences Working Group, a non-profit organisation of activists and researchers. The toxin levels are being tested by authorities in Ukraine.