Mykolaiv to keep some drinking water distribution points as a ‘Plan B’ after launching new water supply

In Mykolaiv, after the resumption of drinking water supply through the water supply system, the authorities plan to stop providing free water to the population through a network of distribution points, but some of them may be left as a reserve.

This was stated by Mayor Oleksandr Sienkevych during a meeting with Ambassador Ole Egberg Mikkelsen, Ambassador of Denmark to Ukraine, NikVesti.

While visiting the enterprise «Mykolaivelectrotrans», the ambassador inspected the updated free water distribution point on the basis of the utility company and asked the mayor what their future fate would be if drinking water was restored in the city.

The mayor said that the free water distribution system costs the city about 600 million hryvnias a year. Currently, the water points are supported by international organisations, but without this funding, the city will not be able to maintain them.

«To provide people with water in Mykolaiv, we spend about 600 million hryvnias a year, which is a huge amount of money. As you have just heard, we spend 440 million on public transport. So we spend a lot of money on water supply. Maybe we will leave the distribution points. We are currently maintaining them with the support of our various international organisations. But as soon as they stop funding it, we will not be able to continue their work. But we will maintain them in the future, so that they are like a plan B in case we don't have water again. Secondly, some of the points will be equipped for paid water supply. They will be able to provide people with water for money. Because many people will use water from water intake points even if our city has good quality water, because they will still go there,» the mayor said.

At the same time, the director of the municipal enterprise «Mykolaivelectrotrans», which currently distributes water in the city, stressed that after the launch of the new water supply system, the company will not distribute water for free - the wells will be used only for internal needs.

«The company will not distribute water for free. The well will be used to meet the company's internal needs. People will have purified water in their homes,» he said.

As you know, on 30 July, the new Mykolaiv water supply system started supplying water. In the second half of August, water should be available in the taps of the city's residents.

A water supply system for Mykolaiv

It has been more than three years since Russian troops damaged the water supply system that supplied Mykolaiv with water. Since then, the city of almost half a million people has been without a centralised supply of quality water. Currently, Mykolaiv residents receive water from a backup source, which raises many questions about the quality of this water and the salt content in it. The salt water damaged 1,200 kilometres of the city's water supply network. Borys Dudenko, director of «Mykolaivvodokanal», said that it is impossible to replace the entire length of the network that was damaged by salt water. As of August 2024, only about 3 kilometres of the network had been replaced.

All this time, representatives of state and local authorities were looking for ways to restore drinking water supply in Mykolaiv. The final solution was found in 2024: a new water supply line would be laid from Nova Odesa, and the money was allocated from the state budget.

The regional recovery service even selected contractors who will work according to the principle of «design-build». They are three companies, each of which is responsible for one of the three work areas: «Ukrtransmist», «Rostdorstroi» and «Avtostrada». However, later both the client and the construction contractor were changed. The customer for the construction of the new water pipeline was the Service for Infrastructure Restoration and Development in Dnipropetrovsk region, and the contractor was the group of companies «Avtostrada».

The future water pipeline for Mykolaiv is expected to be built and launched by autumn 2025, said Serhii Sukhomlyn, head of the State Agency for Reconstruction. Back during a conference in Berlin in 2024, First Deputy Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada Oleksandr Kornienko, answering a question from NikVesti, said that the lack of drinking water in Mykolaiv was one of the biggest problems in Ukraine that the state should solve in the near future. And President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has ordered the construction of a new water supply system to provide Mykolaiv with drinking water «under the fast track option» — drinking water should be available by the summer of 2025. The government has already approved the programme.

Solar power plants are going to be installed on the water supply system for Mykolaiv, which will reduce the cost of water tariffs for the city's residents, said Vitalii Kim, head of the RMA. At the same time, the contractor «Avtostrada» explained that they decided to lay a new water supply system for Mykolaiv from Nova Odesa, as it is the «closest site with good quality drinking water». They also showed photos of the construction of the new water supply system.

Still need more purified water

Although a new water supply system for Mykolaiv is promised to be built by autumn 2025, this does not guarantee that the city will immediately receive drinking water, as a new water treatment system needs to be built, Kristina Mikulova, head of the European Investment Bank's Eastern Europe Regional Centre, told NikVesti.

At the same time, Deputy Mayor of Mykolaiv and head of the city's recovery working group Serhii Koreniev said that the Mykolaiv Recovery Agency is working to upgrade the wastewater treatment plant and launch it simultaneously with the new water supply system. And Vitalii Kim, head of the Mykolaiv Regional Water Authority, said he did not want to rush to take out a large loan for the construction of water treatment facilities for Mykolaiv, despite the EIB's readiness to allocate more than €100 million.

Later, it became known that the State Agency for the Restoration and Development of Infrastructure is currently upgrading the water treatment system for Mykolaiv on behalf of the government.

Together with the constructed water pipeline, this will allow the city to launch a centralised drinking water supply in August 2025, said Serhii Sukhomlyn, head of the State Agency for Infrastructure Recovery and Development.