The government is prepared to fund the water supply pipeline to Yelanets, but the local community needs to raise ₴1.5 million for the project

The government is prepared to fund the water pipeline to Yelanets. Photo from Facebook

Work on the construction of a water pipeline to the village of Yelanets in the Mykolaiv region may resume. The government has already allocated over 237 million hryvnias for the construction of the main water pipeline; however, in order to supply water directly to the residents of Yelanets, the local community needs to prepare the design and cost estimate documentation and set aside around 1.5 million hryvnias for this.

This was discussed during a joint meeting of the Mykolaiv Regional Council’s committees on 26 August, according to NikVesti.

Tetiana Demchenko, a member of the regional council, addressed the council regarding the construction of the water main to Yelanets. She stated that she had submitted a request as early as mid-April, but the issue remains unresolved.

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She noted that there has been no water supply in Yelants since 2005. She said that some residents use boreholes, but not everyone can afford to have them installed due to the high cost of drilling.

Furthermore, the councillor said that groundwater reserves in the area are gradually being depleted. She called on the regional council to help get the issue moving and to hold an on-site meeting of the committees in Yelanets to hear the views of local residents and community representatives.

«If there were an on-site meeting of the committees, people would say whether water is needed in Yelanka or not. Because, to reiterate, it has been calculated that a single cubic metre of water will cost around 40 hryvnias,» noted Tetiana Demchenko.

Nataliia Zhadan, head of the regional water resources office in the Mykolaiv region, confirmed that state funding for the construction of the water pipeline has been allocated. This amounts to 237.4 million hryvnias under the sustainability programme.

However, as this project was drawn up some time ago, it needs to be updated and a new expert assessment obtained.

«We support this project because the balance between groundwater and surface water has been exhausted. We can see that we are facing a constant water shortage. We can see that, following the destruction of the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Station, the flow rate of groundwater and surface water has fallen. And that is why we are currently developing a policy to ensure this is managed,» noted Nataliia Zhadan.

According to Nataliia Zhadan, the overall plan involves supplying water from the Sofiivka Reservoir. The first phase of the project concerns Sofiivka, where a contractor has already been selected. 25 million hryvnias have been allocated for this year, whilst the total estimated cost of the works in Sofiivka is around 56 million hryvnias.

After that, the plan is to supply water further afield — in particular, to the Yelanets community. In the long term, 14 other settlements will also be able to connect to the water supply.

«We are proposing to use funds from the regional office to revise the existing project, recalculate the costs to ensure the project is viable, and obtain a new expert opinion so that the state can allocate funds in the future,» added Nataliia Zhadan.

However, under the terms of the project, internal networks will need to be installed in Yelanets. According to preliminary estimates, around 1.5 million hryvnias will be required to prepare the documentation. The Regional Water Resources Office approached the community to enquire about its readiness to provide the internal water supply network. In response, the community stated that around 50 million hryvnias would be required for the internal networks but did not confirm its readiness to fund either the works themselves or the preparation of the project.

«50 million hryvnias, we realise this is a very large sum, and it is difficult to find such funds at present, but we could start from the very beginning — at least by drawing up a design for the initial network, trying to bring this water to the settlement, and then continuing from there,» noted Nataliia Zhadan.

During the discussion, councillors pointed out that the settlement council plans to allocate around 10 million hryvnias to co-fund the repair of two regional roads. Ivan Bilopol, Deputy Head of the Voznesensk District Military Administration, noted that the community could reconsider the allocation of these funds and direct part of them towards the water supply project.

«Councillors could allocate less to the roads, provided this is a joint decision by the councillors, and redirect a portion towards the project documentation. Because, if there are state funds available, I see no point in letting them go to waste,» said Ivan Bilopol.

Those present at the meeting emphasised that the state is prepared to fund the construction of the main water pipeline itself, whilst at this stage the community needs to provide the funds for designing the internal network.

Separately, during the meeting, a question arose regarding the plots of land through which the water main is to pass. Councillors stated that planning permission had been granted for the construction of two petrol stations on some of these plots. According to representatives of the water authority, a survey revealed that the land plots overlap with the area designated for the water main project.

In light of this, the committee decided to request documents from the Yelanets Town Council setting out the grounds on which the construction of the petrol stations on these plots had been approved.

Following the meeting, the committee members endorsed several proposals. In particular, they recommended that the Yelanets Settlement Council review its budget allocation and set aside approximately 1.5 million hryvnias for the preparation of design and cost estimate documentation for the water pipeline’s internal networks.

In addition, the Regional Council will request documents relating to the planning permission for the construction of two petrol stations on the plots of land earmarked for the water supply network.

The committee members voted in favour of the proposals. The decisions were endorsed.

It should be recalled that in 2023, amendments to the state budget included funding for a programme to supply drinking water to residents of settlements in the Yelanets community in the Mykolaiv region.

It should be recalled that in May 2026, the chair of the Yelanets Settlement Council in the Voznesensk District of the Mykolaiv Region was notified of being suspected of abuse of office during the implementation of a project to install a water tower.

Prior to that, in April 2026, it emerged that the environmental committee of the Mykolaiv Regional Council was once again planning to visit the Yelanets community — this time due to neglected wells, a bridge and a polluted river. At the same time, it was pointed out that back in March 2026, the committee had already inspected the condition of the bridge over the Hromoklia River in the village of Vozsiatske and the weirs, and had described the bridge’s condition as critical. It transpired that neither the bridge nor the wells in the community were on anyone’s books.