The Severski Donets River is the main source of drinking and service water supply for population and economic sectors in the Kharkovskaya, Donetskaya, and Luganskaya provinces. 

According to the “Rules for Using Water Resources from the Severski Donets River” and the Procedure of Operation of the Krasnopavlovsk Reservoir Structures, as a component of water economic balance of the Severski Donets serves an annual delivery of water from the Dnieper River along the Dnieper-Donbass canal in order to compensate water shortage in the Severski Donets river basin during dry periods and accumulate water in the Krasnopavlovsk reservoir in an amount of 120 Mm³ and more.