The Southern Bug River continues to be polluted by discharges from municipal utilities, — the Environmental Inspectorate

Water in the Southern Bug River in Mykolaiv, summer 2026, photo by ‘NikVesti’

Due to regular discharges of inadequately treated or untreated effluent, the condition of the Southern Bug continues to deteriorate. The State Environmental Inspectorate states that the main source of pollution remains municipal utilities with dilapidated or malfunctioning treatment facilities.

This is stated in the response from the State Environmental Inspectorate of the South-Western District to an enquiry from NikVesti.

During inspections, the effluent is most frequently found to exceed permissible levels of suspended solids, nitrates, sulphates, chlorides, aluminium and ammonium nitrogen.

At some enterprises, the treatment plants are in a state of disrepair, are not operational, or are completely absent. As a result, domestic effluent may enter the Southern Bug River without undergoing any mechanical or biological treatment.

«Physical wear and tear and the deterioration of treatment facilities lead to the direct discharge of untreated effluent with high levels of pollutants,» the environmental inspectorate noted.

For such violations, inspectors draw up reports, impose fines and calculate the environmental damage. At the same time, during martial law, routine inspections are limited, so the Inspectorate is unable to fully monitor the situation.

Response from the State Environmental Inspectorate of the South-Western District to an enquiry from NikVesti

Response from the State Environmental Inspectorate of the South-Western District to an enquiry from NikVesti

Response from the State Environmental Inspectorate of the South-Western District to a request from NikVesti

As a reminder, by 2030, nearly 29 billion hryvnias are planned to be allocated to the implementation of the programme to restore the Southern Bug river basin. For the Mykolaiv region, 17 key environmental protection measures have been planned, including the reconstruction of treatment plants, the establishment of riparian protection zones and the dredging of rivers.

Read also the article by NikVesti entitled «One river for two regions. How the condition of the Southern Bug in the Khmelnytskyi region affects the water received by Mykolaiv».

It should be noted that in the Cherkasy region, a farm has started using water from the Syniukha to irrigate its fields. The river is one of the largest tributaries of the Southern Bug, from which water is abstracted downstream for Mykolaiv’s centralised water supply.