The new head of the water utility expects water quality in Mykolaiv to improve in one to two weeks

Director of Mykolaivvodokanal, Hennadii Iziumov. Photo: NikVesti

Residents of Mykolaiv will be able to feel the improvement in water quality in a week or two, once the systems have been flushed. However, significant changes can only be expected after the launch of new treatment facilities.

This was announced by Hennadii Iziumov, director of Mykolaivvodokanal, during a staff meeting on 2 March, according to NikVesti.

According to him, the temporary deterioration in water quality is due to warming temperatures, snowmelt, precipitation and the discharge of excess water from the Oleksandrivske Reservoir into the Southern Bug River.

«The Oleksandrivske Reservoir discharged an excessive amount of water. Two indicators have deteriorated: colour and turbidity. Chlorides and hardness are normal. We cannot improve the situation because the treatment facilities are still under construction. Our treatment facilities are not coping, and the coagulation unit is not working. The filters are not designed for the water that is coming in,» explained Hennadii Iziumov.

According to the water utility manager's forecast, water quality can be expected to improve in about a week or two, when the networks are flushed after the contaminated water has been discharged. They also plan to flush the water storage tanks, where sludge has accumulated.

«The quality may also deteriorate while our networks are being flushed. In the future, the situation will even out a bit. Today, the reservoir has almost returned to normal discharge levels. It will take about another week or two to flush out what has entered our network. We will also flush our water storage tanks in the spring, as I understand that a lot of sludge has accumulated directly in the tanks,» said Hennadii Iziumov.

However, according to him, significant changes in water quality in Mykolaiv are only possible after the new treatment facilities are fully operational.

«Until the new treatment facilities are put into operation, we will see this situation seasonally,» he added.

Mayor Oleksandr Sienkevych added that the construction of the new treatment facilities will be completed in March, and the commissioning and adaptation of the system will continue until November.

Earlier, it was reported that the quality of tap water in Mykolaiv had temporarily deteriorated. This is attributed to the spring thaw and rising water levels in rivers.

As a reminder, the new water treatment facilities for Mykolaiv cost about 800 million hryvnias. Construction work is still ongoing and is being financed from the state budget.

Read also the article by NikVesti «The state is building new treatment facilities, while Mykolaiv insists on their modernisation with an EIB loan: what the city will gain from this».

When will the new water treatment facilities start operating?

The new water treatment facilities for centralised water supply in Mykolaiv are promised to be launched as early as January 2026, but they are promised to be fully operational later. They were built with funds saved during the construction of a new water pipeline.

Initially, it was planned to take out an EIB loan for the construction of new water treatment facilities for Mykolaiv, with Denmark providing part of the funding as a grant. The project was expected to take several years to complete and was intended to help provide the city with water of European standard.

However, the head of the State Agency for Reconstruction, Serhii Sukhomlyn, later said that this idea had been abandoned. It was decided to build new water treatment facilities using state funds — those saved during the construction of a new water pipeline for the city.

However, Mykolaiv Mayor Oleksandr Sienkevych supports the modernisation of new water treatment facilities with a loan from the European Investment Bank, but believes that the state should pay for it.

Read also the article by NikVesti «When will Mykolaiv get drinking water in its taps and how much will it have to pay for it?»