Kim: Water in Mykolaiv will be available to drink from the tap by the end of 2025

Vitalii Kim, head of the Mykolaiv regional military administration. Photo: archive NikVesti

Residents of Mykolaiv can expect clean water in their taps around the end of 2025 or early next year.

This was announced on 16 September during a telethon by the head of the Mykolaiv Regional Water Administration, Vitalii Kim, according to NikVesti.

Vitalii Kim said that the construction of additional treatment facilities worth an estimated UAH 680 million is currently underway in parallel with the connection of the water supply system to the city network. The works are expected to be completed by the end of the year, after which the systems will be adjusted for another month.

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«The new water pipeline is already functionally connected to the network, but to the old network, which was designed for higher quality water that was available before. Therefore, the construction of additional treatment facilities worth 680 million hryvnias has begun in parallel. This process is expected to be completed by the end of the year, with another month needed for adjustment. Therefore, people will receive water, as they all expect, in two weeks, as they said, the water will be better, but so that it can be drunk from the tap, so it will be at the end of the year or at the beginning of the next year. I am following this and I will say that the situation is much better, it will get better every day, but it will be possible to drink a little later,» said Vitalii Kim.

Vitaliy Kim added that the main part of the network has been partially restored, allowing most residents to receive quality water. Water in the areas close to the treatment plants will be clean within a week or a month. Remote areas where the flow is weak will need to displace the old water within three months.

He stressed that the water will improve gradually: in some areas, its quality will improve faster, in others — a little later.

«The news is giving different interpretations of the water situation. I will say that everyone should understand that the water will get better gradually. There are many stages. The water supply system is connected, there are old and new treatment plants, etc. Everyone will experience it differently, in some areas of the city it will be faster and better, in some longer, but everything is gradual. Everything is being restored now,» he added on Telegram.

At the beginning of September 2025, it was reported that the water supply system in Mykolaiv was fully ready for water pumping. The first test of the system was successful, and permanent water supply can begin after the completion of the preparatory work of the water utility. The next stage will be the construction of a new treatment plant worth about 700 million hryvnias, which is expected to be completed by the end of the year.

Earlier, Vitalii Kim said that Mykolaiv residents would be able to get high-quality water in their taps in October 2025, after the modernisation of the treatment facilities.

History of the water supply system in Mykolaiv region

It has been more than three years since Russian troops damaged the water pipeline that supplied Mykolaiv with water. Since then, the city of almost half a million people has been without a centralised supply of quality water.

All this time, Mykolaiv residents have been receiving water from a backup source, which raises many questions about the quality of this water and the salt content in its composition. 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 the salt water supply.

For a long time, representatives of state and local authorities have been 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 new water pipeline was the Service for Infrastructure Restoration and Development in Dnipropetrovsk region, and the contractor was the group of companies «Avtostrada».