School closures and water problems. Report from Snihurivka

The city of Snigurivka, August 2024, photo: «NykVesty"

Snigurivka, a small town in the Mykolayiv region, has survived many trials: Russian occupation, flooding after the detonation of a hydroelectric power station, and mined fields. But the biggest challenge for the community was how to survive and recover in such conditions. People are leaving, the authorities are forced to close schools, and the struggle to return to normal life continues. In this report, we will tell how Snihurivka tries to find opportunities to recover after numerous disasters.

No light — no water

One of the biggest challenges for the community was another crime of the Russian army — the explosion at the hydroelectric dam in Kakhovka. The dam was blown up at night and by morning the water level was breaking records.

Almost 6 meters of water flooded part of the wells in the city, which became a long-term problem with its supply. The indicators have now returned to normal, and water supply is carried out from wells according to the usual principle for the people of Snihurivka, says the head of the Snihurivka City Military Administration, Ivan Kukhta.

Ivan Kukhta, head of the Snihurivka military administration, photo: NikVesti

«After the explosion of the Kakhovka HPP, almost all the wells, except one, were flooded with water. Likewise in small settlements. Along with this, water from the river also got into the groundwater from which the wells draw water. All the dirt and, perhaps, the grease that was brought with the wave got there. Then we stopped the wells. They organized the delivery of water around the community, where there was a need. They gave both drinking and technical water. After a month, everything returned to normal,» adds the head of the CMA.

At the same time, residents of Snihurivka say in a conversation with us that water problems are urgent today. But now the reason is different — the power outage.

«If there is no light, then there will be no water,» says Valerii, a resident of the city.

Despite the authorities' statement that the pumps are equipped with generators, there is still no water in the houses.

«While pumping the pumps, the light goes out again. Water does not reach people. I have a private house, it is not so problematic. But my sister lives in a high-rise building on the 4th floor, everything is bad there. The generators are handed over to them, but whether they connect them is, of course, a question,» says Mr. Valerii.

Kukhta admits that during short-term outages, the generators were really not connected, he explained this by economy, because in the future problems with power supply may be more serious. In addition, the problem with water is explained by the wear and tear of networks on which gusts occur and the significant consumption of water by the private sector for watering gardens.

«The lowest water fee in the community. Connecting generators now is a very expensive part of the fuel that we purchase at the expense of budget funds. If the outages were very long, generators and power backups would be used. But the problem is not only that. The private sector is very close to the wells, they water the gardens — the water does not reach the others. And if there is water only 4 hours a day, then until it fills up below near the private sector, it will not reach the distant areas,» says Ivan Kukhta. — Another problem is the state of water networks in the city. This summer, water supply was provided by 5 wells. Although it is usually 3. This is a larger volume of water due to pressure. The network is old, it can't stand it, there are surges. Therefore, there was no water not only due to the fact that there is no light. There was no water due to the fact that we «squeezed» this water in order to give it, destroying the old system.

The community is working on replacing the water mains, which is partly helped by a partnership with Denmark. Over the past six months, utility workers have replaced more than 5 kilometers of pipes.

One of the rebuilt bridges over the Inhulets River, photo: UNITED24

Infrastructure restoration: Bridges have been restored, but work is ongoing

The retreat from Snihurivka in November 2022 was accompanied by the destruction of 5 bridges by the Russians. 2 more bridges were swept away by the river after the hydroelectric power station was blown up. As of August 2024, all seven have been restored.

«Now we are building another pedestrian bridge across the Inhulets River from the village of Yuriivka to the village of Ivano-Kepyne. People needed a pedestrian bridge here a long time ago. Locals are crossing by boat to the village of Ivano-Kepyne, says the head of the CMA.

However, we note that three more destroyed bridges were rebuilt within the boundaries of the former Snihurivka district.

«Within the boundaries of the former district, this is unprecedented. There are plans to build a bridge connecting the villages of Vasylivka, Yevgenivka, Pavlivka, Ivano-Kepyne with Snihurivka across the Inhulets River. The first wooden bridge was built there. It is temporary. Unfortunately, due to the large amount of heavy-duty transport, it is destroyed too quickly. This is a bridge of regional importance, and therefore the RMA and the regional council allocate subcontractors, it is being repaired, but it must be replaced with a concrete bridge. Now we are conducting negotiations,» says Ivan Kukhta.

Donors from UNITED24 and the 36th Konotop road rehabilitation brigade played a significant role in their restoration. Some of the bridges were restored with funds from the regional and state budgets. However, up to a million hryvnias have been allocated for each of them from the community budget.

«In all bridges, the community took one or another part. For the community, this is mega cool and economical, because we spent up to a million on one such bridge,» says Ivan Kukhta.

Snihurivka support school, photo: NikVesti

Will the children go to school in Snihurivka?

Before the start of the full-scale invasion, there were four schools in Snihurivka. Today, some of them are damaged by Russian shelling or are simply not needed due to the absence of children.

Schools №1 and №2 are planning to close. The last one was hit by a rocket on the night of Easter in 2023, but the education department of the Snihurivka community emphasized that there was talk of closing the institution even before that, because there are not enough children for such a number of schools in the city.

School №3 and support school №4 will remain active institutions in the city. However, there is a problem here as well. The support school was badly damaged during the occupation. For some time, the Russians even tried to settle their soldiers there, but the school management did not allow this to happen, and the institution suffered damage at the hands of the occupiers themselves.

One of the blocks in the school was completely destroyed by an S-300 missile. 50 million hryvnias are needed for its reconstruction. More than 30 million more are needed to equip the shelter.

«The ruined wing is 9 classes on one side. You can isolate them, said school director Viktoriia Chernyshova. The main thing is that we change the windows and make a shelter. Although according to the project, we are supposed to start rebuilding in 2024.»

Funds for reconstruction should be allocated by the state soon, says Ivan Kukhta. However, during the visit to the community of the ambassador of Denmark in Ukraine, the possibility of the Kingdom's representation taking over the reconstruction of the institution was also discussed.

So, for now, the only institution where studies can potentially begin is school №3.

Snihurivka school №3, photo: NikVesti

But this school also needs funds to upgrade the shelter. Although a shelter from the Saved charity fund appeared here, this is only a small part. Another 14 million hryvnias are needed for the full completion of the works.

«What is the problem of Snihurivka? It is impossible to start training from September 1 due to the security situation. But even if tomorrow everything changes fundamentally, the war ends, it will not change anything. There should be a shelter in the 3rd school, and it is being built. And in the 4th school, donors are ready to enter to build a shelter, but they cannot, because the school is destroyed from above. If the Cabinet of Ministers allocates the necessary amount of funds this year, we will still not have time for anything, the main works will continue in 2025,» assures Ivan Kukhta.

The situation is not better with educational institutions in the territory of the community's settlements, because there, too, schools and kindergartens were damaged by hostilities and are also subject to liquidation. Currently, we are talking about seven educational institutions.

On the site of the dismantled music school, a modular Administrative Services Center should appear, photo: NikVesti

On the site of the music school, there will be an administrative service center

Another educational institution that physically no longer exists in the city is a children's music school. During the presence of Russian troops, it, like most objects, was destroyed by shelling. Reconstruction of the music school, according to the head of the CBA, is impractical today. But in the future, the school will be able to be placed in the building of one of the liquidated gymnasiums of Snihurivka.

Currently, preparatory work is underway at the school site for the placement of the Administrative Services Center (ASC) there. The builders have already poured the concrete foundation on which the modular unit will be installed and conducted communications.

«This is a full-fledged ASC. It is no different from stationary. We arrange the site and the surrounding area. Previously, there was a premises of a music school. We dismantled the destroyed building specifically for the Administrative Services Center,» says Ivan Kukhta.

An important issue for the community, which was under the occupation of the Russians, who left behind mines and explosives, is security. Today, the community is working on the creation of a Safety Center, where the local fire department, community police, representatives of the Red Cross, a representative office of the demining center and updating of demining data will be concentrated in one building.

Security center in Snihurivka, photo: NikVesti

Security center in Snihurivka, photo: NikVesti

Another of the premises will be equipped as a server room for all cameras in the Sniguriv territorial community after the installation of the «Safe City» video surveillance and analytics system in the city.

Despite the shelling: business in Snihurivka finds opportunities to recover

Today, the Snihurivka community is definitely not the safest place to start your own business. The risk of shelling is significant — the front line is only 15–20 kilometers away. However, business is trying to work here today.

The supermarket resumed work. Another online grocery store is opening. Coffee shops opened. The local bakery has resumed work. Farms, despite the danger, continue to work. The only ones who cannot return to work are those whose land is mined.

The restoration in 2023 of one of Europe's largest tomato processing plants, Agrofusion, deserves special attention. Before the war, the plant provided jobs for more than two thousand people.

«The movement at this pace is very good,» says Ivan Kukhta. «I am sure that there will definitely be a chance to live in a community. The only thing is that you have to approach everything individually and intelligently.»

Alisa Melik-Adamian, NikVesti

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