Mykolaiv flows. For two years, how has the water utility been struggling with accidents on the water network, which is «killed» by salt water?

For more than two years, employees of «Mykolaivvodokanal» have been leaving every day to replace networks damaged by salt water. If «technical» water is a matter of discomfort for the citizens, then the price for the enterprise is kilometers of rusted pipes that now need to be replaced. Due to their destruction, the number of gusts in the city has increased many times, and repairs can last up to several days.

How employees of the water utility eliminate surges, whether the enterprise has enough emergency crews and when it will be possible to replace all the water networks of Mykolaiv — read in the article by NikVesti.

Accidents in the city increased 10 times

Every day of the employees of the water utility begins with the elimination of surges in the water supply network, and there are many of them in Mykolaiv. After all, the number of accidents has increased 7-10 times compared to pre-war times, Oleksii Ababilov, the technical manager of the water supply service of Mykolaivvodokanal, told NikVesti. But compared to 2022-23, the situation was somewhat stabilized by repairing pipes and replacing water networks, he added.

The number of accidents on water supply networks increases during power outages. At the moment of reconnection of networks to generators, different water supply pressures arise in the pipes and provoke gusts in the city.

«As soon as SPO (schedule of hourly power outages, — note) was introduced, we immediately felt the effects of water hammers. That is, the light turns on instantly, the pumps stop, and the mass of water is large. If before the introduction of the SPO, we stabilized the situation to the point that we had approximately 7 unremedied leaks, now there are 26. The city is flowing. If we take into account that we forced the network to a terrible state with salt water, we currently have what we have,» says Oleksii Ababilov.

Vodokanal names three locations among the most problematic emergency areas in Mykolaiv: the intersection of Lohinova and Almazova streets (formerly Kyrylova and Karpenko, — note), Ternivske ring and the ring near the city bus station.

The longest elimination of an accident on the network lasted three days at the intersection of Sevastopolska and 6 Slobidska streets, Oleksii Ababilov added.

«There are only nine-storey buildings. We disassembled the well, found out that three meters of pipe still needed to be replaced there. And for three days the boys worked from morning to evening.»

The procedure for liquidating the accident is quite clear: first, an inspection team goes to the place, makes preliminary conclusions and sends the water company's emergency team there.

«The team leaves either the next day or the same day, if the leak is severe. What does the team do first? They coordinate all communications that are underground. That is, you can't just dig in the city. Because this way you can accumulate another thousand and 500 fines,» says Oleksii Ababilov.

After agreement, specialized equipment arrives at the site, with its help, the team excavates the accident site and performs a preventive inspection of the pipe to determine the state of its wear and tear. Next, the pipe is either replaced with a new one or a pipe clamp is installed on it. After the repair, the site will be covered with new sand and the work will be completed with landscaping, said Oleksii Ababilov, head of the water supply service of the Vodokanal.

In general, the duration of repair work depends on the volume of work, he explained. After all, sometimes during repairs it turns out that the problem is much bigger than it seemed at first glance, added Oleksii Ababilov.

«There are situations when the damage extends much further from the work site and we rest on Tsentralnyi Avenue or tram tracks. Then we have to make a puncture and change 40-60 meters of pipes there,» he explained.

«Technique is there — people are not»

Thanks to the help of international partners, «Mykolaivvodokanal» has already updated about 60% of its equipment, says Oleksii Ababilov.

«These are accidents on which the brigades leave. So far we have received 13 cars. Ten are already on the line, three are still standing. We are expecting. There are new excavators, there are new dump trucks. There is also old equipment — there is still something to replace. That is, about 60-70% have already been replaced. We have enough equipment, but there are no drivers,» he said.

The situation with employees is somewhat different — currently the water utility does not have enough emergency crews to work around the city. If before the full-scale war two brigades of five people worked in each district of Mykolaiv, now there is one brigade of two workers in each district, Oleksii Ababilov shared. First of all, such personnel situation is connected with the process of mobilization, he added.

«There are vacant positions — there are many of them. Starting from a locksmith, ending with an engineer. We cannot recruit anyone,» said Oleksii Ababilov.

In order to quickly eliminate leaks in the city, the enterprise needs two full-fledged teams, consisting of 4-5 people, explained the head of the water supply service of the Vodokanal.

«It's not a quick process.» It is necessary to replace 1200 km of pipes

So far, the water company has replaced only about 3 kilometers of water supply networks out of a total of 1,200 kilometers in the city. This is quite a long process, assures the technical manager of the water supply service of «Mykolaivvodokanal» Oleksii Ababilov. After all, he explained, for the replacement of pipe sections, a tender must first be announced and a project for the execution of the work developed.

For example, when replacing pipes, it is sometimes necessary to demolish several trees, deal with the situation of self-development, or coordinate the city's underground communications.

«It is impossible to dig 500 meters of pipes in two days. This is not a quick process,» added Oleksii Ababilov.

Materials for replacing pipes are also provided to the enterprise by international donors, he added.

«The Danish Refugee Council takes care of us. All materials were provided by the Danes. Currently, we cannot buy anything for ourselves, because the tariff is such that we can only pay taxes and salary. Everything we have, all the spare parts — everything is provided by donors,» explained Oleksii Ababilov.

It is impossible to say for sure how long it will take to replace the entire water network in the city, says the technical manager of the company's water supply service.

«It is possible to do it, but I don't know how much time it will take. I believe that your generation can finish it if we start it and put it on wheels. We are trying to make it so, but it is a long process,» he added.

However, these works continue today. Currently, Vodokanal is preparing 43 network replacement projects for implementation in the coming years, Oleksiy Ababilov said.

«There, the pipe can be 1.5 kilometers, or it can be 300 meters. There is a lot of work. These are just plans. I don't know what we will realize in a year. That is, if from this we implement 10 projects in a year, that will be good,» he said.

Yuliia Boichenko, NikVesti

We created this material as a member of the Recovery Window Network. Find out everything about the recovery of the affected regions of Ukraine on the single recovery.win platform.